Turkish Gold Coins Explained: Çeyrek, Yarım, Tam & Reşat

A çeyrek altın — Turkey's quarter gold coin — contains 1.607 grams of fine gold. At a spot price of $4,040.50 per troy ounce, or $129.90 per gram, that is $208.75 of metal, roughly ₺9,924 at 47.54 lira to the dollar. That single figure unlocks most of what confuses English-speaking readers about the gold rate in Turkey today: the country quotes gold in coins rather than ounces, the coins are 22 karat rather than 24, and every size in the range is a clean multiple of the quarter.

The Ziynet Ladder: Çeyrek, Yarım, Tam and the Multiples

Turkish gold coins are built as a single scaling series called ziynet altın. Everything starts from the quarter and doubles or multiplies from there, so once you know one weight you know all of them. The alloy is 22 ayar — 916 parts gold per thousand — which is why the gross weight of a coin is always noticeably heavier than its gold content.

The arithmetic is straightforward: 1.754 g gross × 0.916 = 1.607 g of fine gold, and 1.607 g × $129.90 = $208.75. Multiply by 47.54 and you get ₺9,924. Every other rung is that same sum scaled — a tam altın is simply four çeyrek, so 6.428 g × $129.90 = $835.00, or ₺39,696. If you want to run the same calculation on a coin you already own, the karat purity calculator does the gross-to-fine step for you.

One caution on the numbers above: dealers describe coins as eski (old) and yeni (new), and the two versions are not always identical. Older strikes can differ slightly in gross weight, rim thickness and wear, and a worn coin carries slightly less metal than a sealed one. Treat the table as the standard specification, not as a guarantee for any individual coin in a tray.

Gram Altın: The Number Every Other Price Comes From

Alongside the coins, Turkey trades plain 24K gram bars, and gram altın is the anchor quote you will see scrolling on jeweller screens and news tickers. It is the pure metal price for one gram, so it is the cleanest reference point in the market — the same role that the international gold price per gram plays elsewhere.

Coin prices are derived from it rather than quoted independently. Take the gram altın price, multiply by the coin's fine gold content, then add the dealer's premium. A çeyrek at ₺6,176 per gram is 1.607 × 6,176 = ₺9,925 of metal before anyone adds a margin. If a shop is asking ₺10,500, the premium is ₺575, or about 5.8 per cent — and you worked that out without needing the dealer to explain anything.

The 22K figure matters separately, because jewellery in Turkey is overwhelmingly 22 ayar. At $119.08 per gram, 22K gold works out at ₺5,661 per gram of alloy — a useful sanity check when a bracelet is priced by weight.

Reşat Altın, Ata Altın and Plain Ziynet

This is where most English-language explanations go wrong. Reşat and Ata are not separate weight classes — they are designs struck on the same ziynet weight ladder. A Reşat çeyrek and a plain ziynet çeyrek hold the same 1.607 g of fine gold. What differs is what people will pay for the face on the coin.

• Ziynet altın — the plain ornamental series, sold in all five sizes, usually the cheapest way to buy coin gold and the standard gift coin.
• Reşat altın — carries the tuğra and name of the late Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V Reşad. Historically prized, and it normally trades at a visible premium over ziynet of identical weight.
• Ata altın — carries the portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Also a premium design, and the version most often chosen when a gift is meant to be kept rather than sold.
• Cumhuriyet altın — the republic-era coin, effectively the tam-size classic that many families treat as the default store of value.
• Beşibirlik — literally five-in-one, the 5 × tam coin, often worn as a pendant and given at the largest weddings.

The practical consequence: if you are buying for metal value, a named design is a worse deal because you pay for the design and only get back gold. If you are buying as a gift meant to be held for decades, the design premium is part of the point. It is the same trade-off that separates a sovereign-style bullion coin from a collector strike anywhere else, discussed in more depth in our Krugerrand vs Eagle vs Maple Leaf comparison.

Where Turkish Gold Coins Actually Trade

Turkey has one of the deepest retail gold markets in the world, and the coin trade runs through four channels that quote slightly differently from one another.

• The Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı) in Istanbul — the historic centre of the trade, with dozens of dealers within a few metres of each other, which is exactly why spreads there tend to be tight.
• Licensed jewellers nationwide — every neighbourhood has one, and most will both sell and buy back ziynet coins the same day.
• Borsa İstanbul's precious metals market — the wholesale layer where refiners and banks clear metal; retail prices are ultimately referenced to it.
• Banks — sell gram gold and gold accounts rather than physical coins, which suits savers who never intend to take delivery.

Because dealers are clustered so tightly, the sensible move is to price the same coin at two counters before buying. A one-per-cent difference on a beşibirlik is ₺1,985 — worth a two-minute walk. If you want a neutral figure to compare against before you set out, check live gold coin prices and note the gram number first.

The Premium: What the Tradition Costs

Small coins cost more per gram to make, package and handle, so premiums scale inversely with size. A gram bar typically carries a low single-digit premium; a çeyrek typically carries several points more. That gap is small on one coin and substantial on a wedding tray.

Twenty quarters and thirty-two grams of bar contain almost identical gold, yet the coin route costs roughly ₺397 more per coin — about $8.35 each, ₺7,939 across the tray. That is the measurable price of buying gold in gift-sized units, and it is a genuine cost, not a rounding error.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the quarter gold coin price in Turkey today?

The metal in a çeyrek altın is worth $208.75, or about ₺9,924 at 47.54 lira per dollar, based on 1.607 g of fine gold at $129.90 per gram. The counter price will be higher because it includes the dealer's premium — commonly several per cent on a coin this small. Gold moves continuously, so calculate from the current gram altın figure rather than a saved number.

How many grams is a çeyrek altın?

About 1.754 grams gross. Because Turkish bullion coins are 22 ayar (916 fine), only 1.607 grams of that is actual gold: 1.754 × 0.916 = 1.607. A yarım is double at 3.508 g gross, a tam is four quarters at 7.016 g gross, and a beşibirlik is twenty quarters at 35.08 g. Old and new strikes can vary marginally, so weigh anything you are unsure about.

What is the difference between Reşat altın and Ata altın?

Only the design and the price. Reşat coins carry the name and tuğra of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V Reşad; Ata coins carry Atatürk's portrait. Both are struck on the same ziynet weight ladder, so a Reşat quarter and a plain ziynet quarter hold the same 1.607 g of fine gold. Both named designs normally trade at a collector premium over plain ziynet of identical weight.

Is gram altın cheaper than çeyrek altın?

Per gram of gold, yes, almost always. Small coins carry higher fabrication and handling costs, so a çeyrek typically prices several points above a plain 24K gram bar for the same metal. On 32.14 g of fine gold that gap works out at roughly ₺7,939 in this example. Choose coins when you need gift-sized, instantly saleable units; choose gram bars when you simply want the metal.

How much is 1 kg altın in TL?

One kilogram of fine gold is worth about $129,905 at $129.90 per gram, which converts to roughly ₺6,175,000 — a little over ₺6.18 million at 47.54 lira per dollar. That is pure metal value with no premium, refining charge or tax included. Compare it against the live gold price per kilogram before relying on any quoted figure.

How many gold coins are given at a Turkish wedding?

There is no fixed number — guests give according to closeness and means, and the coins are pinned on the couple during the ceremony. Çeyrek coins are the common unit precisely because one is affordable for an ordinary guest at roughly ₺9,924 of metal, while close family may give a tam, an İkibuçuk or a beşibirlik. Named Reşat or Ata designs are often chosen for coins meant to be kept.

Conclusion

The Turkish system is far more logical than its untranslated names suggest: one 22 karat ladder built from a 1.607 g quarter, priced off a plain 24K gram quote, with named designs layered on top for sentiment. Learn the fine-gold column and you can price any coin in the window in seconds. Turkey currently applies roughly 20 per cent VAT to jewellery while investment gold is treated differently, and those rules change — confirm the current position before a large purchase, and read our companion guide to gold taxes by country for the wider picture. If you are still deciding on format, gold coins versus bars versus jewellery sets out the trade-offs, and the live gold rate in Turkey gives you the gram number to compare every counter price against.