The Beylik of Tunis occupied an uncomfortable political position in this period — nominally an Ottoman vassal but operating with near-total fiscal autonomy, issuing its own coinage under its own beys while Istanbul's authority remained largely theoretical. Mahmud II's broader reforms, the Tanzimat precursors of the late 1820s, barely reached Tunis in practical terms.
KM#93 is known with considerable variation in die alignment and surface finish across the run, a consequence of Tunis's La Monnaie mint working with inconsistent silver supply during years when Mediterranean trade was disrupted by the lead-up to the French invasion of Algeria in 1830.
The Beylik of Tunis occupied an uncomfortable political position in this period — nominally an Ottoman vassal but operating with near-total fiscal autonomy, issuing its own coinage under its own beys while Istanbul's authority remained largely theoretical. Mahmud II's broader reforms, the Tanzimat precursors of the late 1820s, barely reached Tunis in practical terms.
KM#93 is known with considerable variation in die alignment and surface finish across the run, a consequence of Tunis's La Monnaie mint working with inconsistent silver supply during years when Mediterranean trade was disrupted by the lead-up to the French invasion of Algeria in 1830.