Zir Mahboub is Egyptian gold coin that varies in shape weight and fineness according to time and place . The word zir from from Persian means gold and the word mahboub from Arabic means precious or beloved . After Sultan Selim I took over Egypt in 923 AH/1517 AD he minted gold coins and dubbed them zir mahboub . It was equal to 37.5 silver piastres coins . It was also dubbed mahboub salami after Sultan Selim then it was dubbed mahboub mostafawi after Sultan Mustafa and so on . It  had recorded the names of the Otoman sultans so it was dubbed Sultani which compared to Ashrafi was less in weight but larger in diameter . European traders gave zir mahboub the name ' alsequin ' and sometimes it was recorded in documents as gold dinar zir mahboub or gold dinar mahboub because it replaced the dinar in Egypt after the Ottoman invasion .