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Telavi Hoard: new data on the Ottoman coinage minted in the Georgian Kingdom of K'Akheti
Paghava, Irakli
2018
Abstract
Recent discoveries have provided us with new numismatic material elucidating the coin-minting activities in the easternmost Georgian province of K’akheti (mints Zagam and Kākhed). However, so far we had no contemporary monetary complexes / hoards, as opposed to the plethora of single finds, unfortunately deprived from the proper archeological context. Our objective is to discuss and publish one of the rare hoards of the epoch, predominantly comprised of the coins minted there in the name of the Ottoman sultan. The hoard (137.90 g) was discovered back in 2016 in the vicinity of the city of Telavi. It constituted an accumulation of 56 silver coins in total (110.25 g, 79.97% of hoard weight); hacksilver (19.18 g; 13.91%); bronze pendant and a small bead, 0.13 g (3.55 g, 2.57%); gold ring with turquoise (4.89 g; 3.55%) – it constituted up to 35-40% of the hoard’s total value (parallels with contemporary Georgian icon-art art were analyzed). Monetary part of the hoard: 1/56 (1.79%) Muscovy coin (0.32 g, 0.29% of the weight of the monetary part of the hoard); functionally, probably hacksilver; 39/56 (69.64%) Ottoman coins minted / countermarked in K’akheti (77.52 g, 70.31%); 12/56 (21.43%) Ottoman coins of distinguishable type, with no mint (26.76 g, 24.27%); 4/56 (7.14%) unidentified coins (5.65 g, 5.12%). We provide the description of the coin types, incl. two previously unknown ones. The Moscow denga constituted a negligible and probably accidental admixture to the main body of Caucasian/Georgian-Ottoman coins. Only two mint-names were indicated on the coins: Kākhed (11 coins; 22.78 g; 19.64% of the total number of coins, 20.66% of the weight of the monetary part of the hoard), Zagam (28; 54.74 g; 50%, 49.65%). We also made an attempt to establish the weight standard of the coins represented in the hoard. The host coins with Zagam c/m pertained to the same, or similar weight standard. All the coins were the Ottoman dirhams of 1.80-2.80 g, of declining weight-standard. We tentatively dated the hoard with the early 1600s. This was a short-term accumulation hoard (a momentary snapshot of the local contemporary monetary circulation). The historical significance of the Telavi hoard is multifaceted: The nonmonetary items may be helpful for studying the history of Georgian art and craftsmanship; we obtained additional factual evidence for the contemporary numismatic history (incl. the discovery of new types and new data for the metrology analysis, insight into contemporary monetary circulation and coin-minting activities). The very fact of the Ottoman type coinage minted in Georgia/K’akheti constitutes an extremely remarkable historical evidence, and its significance exceeds the relative limitedness of “pure” numismatics.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Irakli Paghava, “Telavi Hoard: new data on the Ottoman coinage minted in the Georgian Kingdom of K'Akheti” in: Bruno Callegher and Arianna D’Ottone Rambach (Edited by), “5th Simone Assemani Symposium on Islamic coins. Rome, 29-30 September 2017”, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste,Trieste, 2018, pp. 309-342
Languages
en
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