Last week we reported that the old style YTL notes and coins would no longer be legal tender from 1st January 2010. We explain in detail how to identify the old coins with the new.

In our article published last week we explained that from 1st January 2010 the old notes and coins will no longer be legal tender.

We provided a link to the Turkish Central Banks pictures of the new notes and coins.

Identifying the change in notes is straightforward but how can you quickly identify if a coin is old or new?

We totted up our change tin recently to see how easy it would be and, as a bonus, were also surprised how much cash we had accumulated.

The pictures below show the front and rear views of the new and old coins. The new coins are on the top.

Front

Rear

The first thing we found is that a great deal of thought has gone into the new design of coins.

All new coins have the same image of the profiled head of Ataturk facing left. On the old coins there were various different heads of Ataturk used at various positions.

The new 1TL has a gold outer coloured surrounding and an inner silver colour; the old coin is the reverse. The new 50 Krs coin has a silver coloured outer surrounding and a gold inner colour; the old one is the opposite.

The next thing to note is that all the old coins have larger figures showing the value on the rear.

The 10 Krs coin is now gold coloured rather than the previous silver.

All new coins have more intricate designs on the rear.

Unfortunately, as they are rarer than hen’s teeth, we do not have a new 1 Krs coin to compare. But since they are seldom used and only worth less that ½ pence most people won’t worry.

So from the 1st January keep an eye on the change you receive especially in the market and make sure you have the new rather than the old. Otherwise you’ll be taking a trip to the Ziraat Bank for a long wait to change your change.