Did you find a 1000 lira coin from Turkey and would you like to know the value? Or do you have any other high denomination Turkish Lira coins from the 1990s or 2000’s? Find out the value of these Turkish Lira inflation coins.

Coins in Turkey today: 1 lira and kurus

If you try to pay with a 1000 lire coin in Turkey today you may be told off. Today’s highest value coin in Turkey is the 1 Turkish lira coin. Other Turkish coins in circulation are 50 kurus, 25 kurus, 10 kurus, 5 kurus and 1 kurus.

The kurus is the subunit of the lira: 100 kurus are the equivalent of 1 lira.

Turkey's 1000 Lira coin

The 1000 lira coin from Turkey was issued between 1990 and 1994. The portrait on the coin is that of Atatürk. Text on the ₺1000 lira piece reads “TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ” on the obverse side and “1000 LIRA” on the reverse side.

2500 lira and 5000 lira coins

Turkey issued coins of 2500 lira and 5000 lira between 1991 and 2001. They have the same text “TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ”, meaning the Republic of Turkey. Like the 1000 lira coin they also have Atatürk’s portrait.

100,000 lira coin from Turkey

The 100,000 lira coin was issued in the year 2000 as a commemorative coin to celebrate 75 years of the Republic of Turkey. The text on front of the coin reads “MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK “. The back side of the coin reads “TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ 100,000 LIRA 2000”.

Turkey's Bin Lira coins

As we will explain further below, Turkey was going through a period of hyperinflation in the 1990’s and 2000’s. As a result, the value of the Turkish Lira dropped and the country was forced to mint coins in ever greater denominations.

To avoid having too many zeroes on the coins, the Turkish government decided to use the word ‘One Thousand’ instead, which in Turkish is ‘Bin’. From 1994 until 2004, coins were minted in denominations of 10 bin lira (₺10,000), 25 bin lira (₺25,000), 50 bin lira (₺50,000), 100 bin lira (₺100,000) and 250 bin lira (₺250,000).

Hyperinflation in Turkey in the 1990's and 2000's

Turkey’s economy grew fast in the 1980’s and achieved international admiration. This resulted in very good credit ratings, allowing the Turkish government to borrow a lot of money abroad.

Problems started in the 1990’s when Turkey’s economy was hit by the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The credit ratings were slashed in the 1990’s after disputes between the Turkish Prime Minister and the Central Bank governor, which triggered a flight of foreign capital out of Turkey.

The value of the Turkish Lira fell steeply and inflation went up sharply. In the second half of the 1990’s prices were more than doubling every year.In 2005 the Turkish government dropped six zeroes from its coins and banknotes: The 20 Million Lira note became a 20 Lira note. The coin of 100 bin (100,000 lira) became a coin of 10 kurus (0.10 lira).

What are my high denomination Turkish coins worth?

Nothing unfortunately. First of all because the exchange deadline has expired. And would they still be exchangeable, their value would have been very little:

• 100 lira coin: equivalent to 0.0001 lira today – value is less than 1p
• 500 lira coin: equivalent to 0.0005 lira today – value is less than 1p
• 1000 lira coin: equivalent to 0.001 lira today – value is less than 1p
• 2500 lira coin: equivalent to 0.0025 lira today – value is less than 1p
• 5000 lira coin: equivalent to 0.005 lira today – value is less than 1p
• 10 bin lira coin: equivalent to 0.01 lira today – value is less than 1p
• 25 bin lira coin: equivalent to 0.025 lira today – value is less than 1p
• 50 bin lira coin: equivalent to 0.05 lira today – value £0.006 for the coin in total
• 100 bin lira coin: equivalent to 0.1 lira today – value £0.012 for the coin in total
• 100,000 lira coin: equivalent to 0.1 lira today – value £0.012 for the coin in total
• 250 bin lira coin: equivalent to 0.25 lira today – value £0.03 for the coin in total

Don’t be fooled by sites like XE.com that may tell you that the value of a 1000 lira coin is something like £120 pounds. It’s not. The highest value coin in Turkey today is 1 lira. The 1000 lira coins have no more value.

If you are going to use XE.com to find the historical/theoretical value of your 1000 lira coin, make sure you use the right currency code. The 1000 lira coin, and all Turkey’s inflation coins from the 1990’s and 2000’s were coins of the First Turkish Lira, so called “Turkish Old Lira“, for which the currency code is “TRL”. Here is a link to the value of a 1000 Turkish Lira coin on XE.com:

https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1%2C000&From=TRL&To=GBP

Can you exchange my old Turkish coins?

We can, but we hope you understand that it won’t make you a millionaire. If you have old Turkish Lira coins like the 1000 lira coin or the Bin Lira coins, feel free to send them along with your other leftover currency for exchange to cash. We pay £1.30 per kg for all non-exchangeable coins, in addition to the exchange value for the currencies we can exchange. That way you don’t have to bin your Turkish bin lira coins.Read more about the three steps to exchange your currency and our tips and tricks to safely send us your currency via post. If you have any further questions feel free to contact us.