BURBE: COIN OF TUNISIA
1 burbe, 1773: Beylik of Tunis (Ottoman Tunisia)
Ottoman Tunisia: in the 16th century Tunis was officially deep integrated into the Ottoman Empire as the Eyalet. In 1705 the Eyalet of Tunis was replaced by Beylik Tunis. Beylik retained nominal dependence, however, from the end of the 18th century became almost completely independent. In 1881, a French protectorate was established here.
Date on coin: AH 1186 (AH: Latin "Anno Hegirae" — "the year of the Hijra"; Islamic calendar) = 1773 (Gregorian calendar).
Ruler: Mustafa III (Ottoman Turkish "مصطفى ثالث") — 26th sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774.
ضرب في تونس ١١٨٦: Struck in Tunis in 1186.
سلطان مصطفى خان: Sultan Mustafa Khan.
- Copper: 23 mm - 3.72 g
- Reference price: 10.5$
COIN BURBE — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- TUNISIA (17th-18th centuries) — Eyalet of Tunis + Beylik of Tunis: burbe (fals) = 6 burben (qafsi) = 1/2 nasri = 1/13 kharub
BURBE as coin name.
Burbe — old copper coin of Tunisia as part of the Ottoman Empire. It was minted mainly during the 17th-18th centuries (at least at numismatic auctions you can find examples of such coins).
Although this coin name is not one of the oldest, around which disputes and a number of unproven assumptions often arise, everything is also very, very confusing with the burbe coin and here's why:
- First, the spelling of the denomination name: you can find both burbe and burben. Analysis suggests that most sources consider burben to be a fractional part of burbe (most often 1/6).
- Secondly, some catalogs, when covering the numismatic topic of Ottoman Tunisia, generally avoid mentioning this denomination. Instead, all known burbe in such sources are positioned as fals. But, it seems, the truth is that 2 systems of denomination names coexisted in Tunisia in parallel. But this is not accurate...
- Thirdly, the most difficult question that arises when studying burbe as the name of a coin is the relationship of this denomination to other Tunisian coins. I will express my version: burbe was equal to fals and was divided into 6 burben (burben in turn was equal to qafsi). Also, 13 burbe (or 13 fals) made up 1 kharub, and every 2 burbe was equivalent to 1 nasri.
The name burbe is echoed by the Arabic phrase "بو أربع" /bu 'arbae/, which can indicate equality by four or a quarter. Which 4 units are meant in the context of this coin is unknown due to the misunderstandings described above.
Also, the French-language Wikipedia article on Tunisian money claims that burbe (in French "bourbe / bourbine") is the name that Europeans gave to the local small coin fals. However, literally translated from French, the term "bourbe" means "dirt"... it's probably a misunderstanding or a coincidence.
