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“Since the Ottomans were
under the sovereignty of the Ilhanlis and paid taxes, they
obligatorily
followed
the Ilhanli dirhem when they minted akches”. For this reason,
Sultan Orhan had his
akches
minted as 1,052g equaled to 6 karat which was a quarter of a
miskal. As for this writer's opinion,
the
weights of silver coins minted after Sultan Orhan Gazi was fixed
considering rumi.
Esteemed Tuncay Aykut transferred the following information about
Tebriz dirhem: “Gazan essentially
considered
Tebriz miskal which was 24 karat and 4,608g; half miskal, namely,
2,304g silver considered as 1 dirhem, and 6 times of it, namely, 3
miskal silver, was accepted as 1 silver dinar in currency
reformation he adopted”. 100 “Moreover, the minting of the small
coins which were half of dirhem and 1,152g, namely the weighing of
half danak, started during the reign of Gazan Han”. “Tebriz miskal
was a customary weighing unit and considered as 2 dirhem. However,
it was considered as 1,5 dirhem in the Ottomans, in fact, this
weighing unit of Trabzon miskal was also used in Istanbul”.78
c- According to the third view put forward by Halil
Sahillioglu; the Ottomans used Tebriz miskal
and dirhem
in currency minting until 1650.101
Dr.Halil Inalcik agreed
completely with H. Sahillioglu's
view and
disagreed with the thesis put forward by Mustafa Akdag.45
Furthermore, Dr. Ozer
Ergenc
published an article as
if he supported this view.102
Dr. Omer
Lutfi Barkan supported H. Sahillioglu's
view
mentioned above in his published article103
OUR
VIEW
The aim of this article is to verify with examples and proofs that
the Ottomans used Tebriz miskal and dirhem (Tebriz dirhem: 3,072
g. Tebriz miskali: 4,608 g) as currency unit when they minted
golden, silver and copper coins until 1650 basing on the view
stated by H.Sahillioglu, and after this date they applied again
rumi dirhem as currency unit. We should remember that the Ottomans
used rumi dirhem
scale in
daily life, and preferred Tebriz miskal and dirhem only in minting
coins.
When verifying our view with examples; in Fatih rule books (Fatih
last period), it was ordered that 400 akches would be cut off from
100 dirhem pure silver.6-105
(It is known that Fatih's last period akches dated 886 weigh
0.75g.) If we have a very simple calculation, 400 akches were cut
off out of 100 dirhem (Tebrizi), namely, 307g silver; so we can
find out that the weight of a Fatih akche (As it can be seen in
catalogues, the akches belonged to this period weighed around
0,75-1,76g) is about 307/400=0,76g. Considering the technological
possibilities of that period, it is normal to assume that there
could be mistakes of one or ten percents of a gram.
Similarly, the rule said in Fatih rulebook that 129 Filori should
have been cut off out of 100 miskal gold. (100 miskal (Tebrizi)
equaled 460g /129 3,56g) The weights of Fatih sultanis appear with
a limited mistake (These coins appear as 3,53-3,55g in the
catalogues). If we calculate it by using Rumi miskal, it equals to
481 / 129 = 3,72g, in other words, Fatih sultanies never weighed
that much.
“Until 1470, without considering its size, akche which was used in
all kinds of payment and whatever was its amount, it was a coin
weighing 1,152g.” During the reign of Mehmed II, the weight of the
akches was decreased 5 times in the amount of a wheat kernel
(around 48mg). When akche weighed 1,182g in 1425, the weight of
akches was 0,768g as a result of these scales in 1481. The changes
in the weight of akche were as follows:
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