The first part of this
article dealt with the different types of akçes produced in
Cyprus during the Ottoman period (1).
Although these coins are considered rarities, there are a
number of specimens in various museums and private collections
around the world. The second part of the article covers the
only other known coin denomination struck in the Ottoman mint
in Cyprus, another silver piece-larger and much rarer than the
akçes. A report prepared by the Cyprus Department of
Antiquities in 1934, one of the first publications to present
coins with the KIBRIS (Cyprus) mint name, provides examples of
this denomination (2).
The Antiquities Department
report briefly details a hoard of Turkish coins discovered
during a partial demolition of the Tripoli bastion of the
medieval walls of Nicosia in the early 1930s. There were a
number of gold and silver pieces in the hoard, many of which,
according to the report, "did not find their way to the
Museum." The catalogued specimens were primarily small silver
coins of Selim II (A.H. 974-982/A.D.1566-1574), Mehmed III
(A.H. 1003-1012/A.D. 1595-1603), and Ahmed I (A.H.
1012-1026/A.D. 1603-1617), and the report only lists their
mint place and diameter, failing to provide further
information or photographs.
Based on the diameter
measurements of the coins published in the report, it appears
that the hoard contained one akçe of Selim II minted
Constantinople, 13 akçes of Mehmed III struck in Bursa,
Novaberda, Aleppo, and other uncertain mints, and 56 silver
pieces of Ahmed I-of which two different sizes were
identified. Thirty-eight of the coins in the latter group were
undoubtedly akçes, a number of which bore the mint names
Constantinople, Edirne, and Canca. The other 18 specimens were
larger than the akçes, measuring 16-25 mm. in diameter. Canca,
Aleppo, Amid, Kara Amid, and KIBRIS were identified as the
mint places of these silver pieces. The two coins attributed
to the Cyprus mint (entry no. 22) measured 20 mm. in diameter,
and a footnote to their entry cited the following remark: "Mr.
Walker [curator of coins at the British Museum] informs me
that No. 22 with the mint mark KIBRIS is unusual and if it
should represent Cyprus, it is a new mint. The hoard
represents the Turkish currency after the conquest of Cyprus
and it is to be regretted that the gold coins were not
available to the Museum."
Unfortunately, the fate of
the coins described in the 1934 report is unknown. The
existence of similar large Ottoman silver pieces from the
Cyprus mint has been confirmed in subsequent publications,
however. The catalogue of Islamic coins in the Istanbul
Archaeological Museum (3) lists
specimen no. 1669 as a silver coin of Ahmed I minted in
Cyprus, weighing 1.4 gr. and measuring 19 mm. in diameter.
Kenneth MacKenzie also published a photograph of this silver
piece in his 1981 article on Ottoman Cypriot coinage
(4). By courtesy of the Istanbul
Archaeological Museum a sharper picture of the same specimen
is presented here.
The obverse of this Cypriot
silver piece displays a tugra (imperial monogram) with the
name Ahmed clearly legible in the main left loop and bin
Mehmed Han ("son of Mehmed Han") in the lower part of the
tugra. Traces of a linear border and an outer border of dots
can also be seen. The reverse contains the standard legend
'azze nasruhu/duribe/KIBRIS ("may his victory be
glorious/struck/Cyprus"), with the word duribe in a hexagonal
arabesque. Ahmed I's accession year, A.H. 1012 (A.D. 1603), is
partly off-flan below the mint name. Due to certain
irregularities in the field, this piece might be an overstrike
on another, so far unidentified, coin. Rolf Ehlert, a German
numismatist specializing in Ottoman coinage, has a similar
silver piece in his collection, weighing 1.268 gr. Although
the mint name on Ehlert's coin is not as clear as that on the
Archaeological Museum specimen, it can be accepted as KIBRIS.
Classification of these rare
Cypriot silver pieces presents a problem. No primary
documentary evidence mentioning such a denomination exists,
and various numismatists have used different names to describe
similar contemporary coins from other Ottoman mints.
Of the four large Cypriot
sliver pieces of Ahmed I recorded to date, the two that are
available for examination display the same tugra/horizontal,
hexagonal arabesque design on the obverse and reverse faces
respectively. These coins are much bigger and heavier than the
akçes and are also different from contemporary medinis.
Medinis of Ahmed I never have a tugra, their diameter is
smaller than the KIBRIS coins, and their mean weight is lower
than 0.8 gr., as calculated from a description of a large
hoard published in 1977 (5).
Although the tugra did not
appear on medinis, it was stamped on contemporary dirhems
produced in eastern Ottoman mints. These silver pieces
measured around 20 mm. in diameter, weighed approximately 2.5
gr., and were engraved with a variety of reverse designs.
Other coins stamped with the tugra and ranging 16-20 mm. in
diameter-but weighing only 1.0-1.5 gr.-are listed in various
catalogues of Ottoman coinage as dirhems, half-dirhems, and
gümüs ("silver") without further explanation. Specimens of
such silver pieces dating from the reign of Ahmed I have been
recorded with the mint names Amid, Kara Amid, Canca, Erzurum,
Haleb, and Van. Some of them have a reverse design resembling
that of the coins struck in Cyprus, but their reverse legend
contains the honorific phrase hullide mulkuhu ("may his reign
be everlasting") rather than 'azze nasruhu, making them a bit
different than the Cypriot silver pieces.
After the Ottoman conquest of
Cyprus in 1571, four sanjaks located in nearby mainland
coastal areas were annexed to the island, which became the new
provincial and tax collecting center for these territories
(including Alanya, Ichil, Zulkadir, and Tarsus).
(6) One can assume that the same
types of coinage circulated throughout this region, and it is
unfortunate that we do not know the precise weights and
designs of the coins in the Nicosia hoard. Perhaps the large
specimens were dirhems, or even coins of uncertain
denomination like the Cypriot silver pieces.
Without the evidence of
additional hoard descriptions, it is also unclear exactly how
representative the specimens in the Nicosia hoard are of the
coins circulating in Cyprus in the early seventeenth century.
If dirhems were commonly used for commercial exchange on the
island and nearby areas on the mainland, it can be conjectured
that the large Cypriot silver pieces are a half-dirhem
denomination. It is also possible that they are besliks, or
five akçe pieces. This theory is perhaps more plausible since
their weight, measurement, and designs resemble Type 2 besliks
of Murad IV (A.H. 1032-1049/A.D. 1623-1640)
(7). The rare Cypriot silver
pieces might represent an early small-scale trial launch of
the beslik denomination by Ahmed I before its mass production
commenced in Constantinople under Murad IV. This theory fits
well with the sequence of Ottoman monetary developments in the
period following Ahmed I's rule, which witnessed the
introduction of the ten-akçe piece, or onluk, and the
transition of the medini into the para (two-akçe)
denomination, creating a single, logical system for Ottoman
silver currency based on the akçe as the unit. Hopefully,
fresh discoveries and publication of Ottoman coins from this
era will clarify these suppositions and cast new light on
Ahmed I's rather enigmatic silver pieces of Cyprus.
