Letter: Halper 384

Description

Business letter relating to the India trade. In Judaeo-Arabic. The names of the sender and addressee are not preserved. Goitein initially thought the handwriting was that of Abū Zikrī Kohen but later crossed out that identification. The sender reports that he sent cloves before embarking on a ship; Ibn Efrayim aided him somehow. He mentions that a wimple/veil (miʿjar) was 'in the mountain' and that nothing arrived from India. Where the text resumes on verso, he may be writing about commodities including 2 pearls (durratayn, although Goitein later crossed out this reading) that sold for 12 Malikī dinars (the gold dinar of Yemen minted from 1086 and used till the mid-12th century). With this money, he bought more cloves and sent them with Tamīm. Regards to Abū Saʿīd b. Thābit. (Information in part from Goitein notes linked below.) ASE