The production of gold in Turkey’s State Mint has reached an all-time record with 58 tons in the first 10 months of this year, as the demand for gold coins and accessories in Turkey has risen rapidly, according to the mint’s top manager.

“We have reached an all-time record level in production of gold in our mint,” said Sadettin Parkmaksız, general manager of the Turkish Mint located in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş-Yıldız neighborhood. While traditionally Turkish people prefer buying gold coins for each other for weddings and special ceremonies as gift, some small investors see the collection of gold coins as a safe and basic way of saving. The State Mint issues its range of gold bullion coins, broadly classified as “Republican Coins,” in two versions: standard (Meskuk) and decorative (Ziynet).

The Turkish State Mint coined nearly 2.3 tons of gold in 1991, and the amount surged to 35 tons in 2001. The total coined amount of gold decreased to 33.78 tons in 2009 from 57.4 tons in 2008. The amount rose to 36.7 tons last year.The total amount of coined gold in the mint rose to nearly 58 tons in the past 10 months, according to official figures of the mint.

“Despite the appreciation of gold in value, demand in the domestic market in gold is still rising,” Parmaksız said.

Talking about the claims that the mint could not supply enough quarter gold coins to some jewelry shops in Turkey, he said, “We are ready for the ups and downs in gold demand.”

The mint has capacity to coin nearly 1.5 tons of gold weekly, according to Parmaksız. “In the second half of the year, the demand in gold coins increased rapidly and some delays occurred, eventually.” Despite the delays especially in August, he said starting from last week, the mint solved the problems with supply and demand and provided the gold coins with no delay to jewelry shops in the country.

Country of gold coins

Anatolia is renowned as the country where the world’s first gold coins were minted to a standard size and weight. Refined from electrum – a mixture of gold and silver – mined from alluvial deposits, the coins were minted during the rule of King Croessus (561-546 BC) in Sardis, the capital of Lydia. The ruins of Sardis are near İzmir, a port on the Aegean Sea and Turkey’s third largest city.

The Turkish State Mint was founded in 1452 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II. The current mint, which is located in the Beşiktaş-Yıldız neighborhood in Istanbul, was previously based in Topkapi Palace between 1723 and 1967.

The first Republican Gold (Cumhuriyet Altını) was minted in the state mint in 1925 and introduced to the founder of the modern Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in those days. Since then, demand among Turkish people for Republican Coins has continuously increased.