This brief fragment of accounts mentions the shorthand term "kalb" (dog) for the Dutch lion thaler (leeuwendaalder). After it was first produced in 1575 CE, this coinage took on several related labels in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, and Hebrew: abū kalb, esedī kuruş, arselanī, aslanlı, gurush arayōt. The majority of these terms were references to the figurative portrayal of a lion on one side of the coin, however, in Arabic the symbol was sometimes referenced as a dog (kalb). The leeuwendaalder fell out of production in 1713 CE yet continued to circulate in the Ottoman Empire for much of the eighteenth and perhaps into the nineteenth century [1].

[1] Herbert J. Erlanger, "A Hoard of Leeuwendaalders from Aintab," American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 11 (1964): 247.

Images provided by the Jewish Theological Seminary Library (JTSL)

1 Khelīfa Salām | כליפה סלאם

2 Sirāj [al]-Dīn Jūmīl | סראג[אל]דין גומיל

3 kalb kalb | כלב כלב

4 eight six | ח ו

(ed. Matthew Dudley)

Denomination: daalder

Metal: Silver

Region: Netherlands

State: Utrecht

City: Utrecht

Date: 1616

Obverse Figure Description: Lion, rampant, left, in inner circle

Obverse Legend: CONFIDENS + DNO + NON + MOVETVR + 1616 +

Reverse Figure Description: Knight, standing, left, looking back, armored, in inner circle

Reverse Legend: (shield) MO . ARG PRO (: on l) CON – FOE . BELG . TRA

Reverse Attribute: arms shield bearing a standing lion, in front of his legs

References: KM p. 942, 14: 1616

Size: 42mm

Die Axis: 11

Weight: 26.50 grams

Accession: Accession number: 878, 2021-12-27, Stephen Album

Shape: round

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