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1 Qafsi - Mustafa III
| Issuer | Beylik of Tunis |
|---|---|
| Year | 1759-1765 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Irregular hammered copper flan bearing a crudely struck Arabic legend in the field. The inscription, reading in Arabic script, references the mint city of Tunis together with the regnal year 1176 AH. The design is characteristic of the rough, informal striking style typical of small-denomination Ottoman-era Tunisian fractional coinage, with no pictorial device present. The surfaces display the uneven relief and flan irregularities inherent to the hammered technique. The coin's modest size and weight reflect its role as the smallest unit of the Tunisian Rial monetary system. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | 1172 (1759) - ١١٧٢ - 1173 (1760) - ١١٧٣ - 1174 (1761) - ١١٧٤ - 1175 (1762) - ١١٧٥ - 1176 (1763) - ١١٧٦ - 1177 (1764) - ١١٧٧ - 1178 (1765) - ١١٧٨ - |
| Additional information |
The qafsi — named for the city of Gafsa — was among the smallest copper divisions struck under Ottoman suzerainty in Tunis, issued to serve a local market that larger denominations could not efficiently reach. Mustafa III's reign saw continued tension between the Husainid beys and the Porte over the practical limits of Ottoman authority in the Maghreb; coinage like this, struck locally and circulating only within the beylik, was one of the more tangible expressions of that ambiguity.