Geniza Lab

Record of debt with values measured in Venetian zecchini (Ar. bunduqī, a coin minted 1284–1797).

Deed of sale. Dating: Second half of the 16th century. Ṣemaḥ Alanj (? אלנג׳) sells Shemuel Cordoba 19 pounds of a particular kind of coral (מרגאל גשים קצף) for 17 peraḥim and 2 coronas. Shemuel pays 6 peraḥim at this time and still owes 11 perḥim and 2 coronas. The document is signed by Avraham Sambari. There is an addendum written in between the lines at 180 degrees, mentioning the wife of Makhlūf. Ṣemaḥ Alanj is also mentioned in T-S AS 145.87, a deed of release from the year 5329 AM (1568/69 CE).

Letter from Avraham Baronito to a communal dignitary. Dating: Second half of the 16th century. The sender is known from ENA NS 49.20 (a legal deed dated 1563 CE) and T-S 8J14.28 (as the addressee of a Ladino letter from Yiṣḥaq Baronito). He asks for financial help, as the tax collector has detained him in the 'mishmar' (perhaps house arrest).

Letter fragment (bottom half). In Hebrew. It is not entirely clear how this relates to the letter on verso. Both recto and verso are appeals for charity, each one in slightly different handwriting but plausibly by the same person. The sender says he traveled to Damietta intending to go on to Safed but could not find a ship, so he returned and arrived home on Friday night only to find his wife and two sons sitting in the dark on account of their poverty. He asks for charity.