Akçe

The akçe (Ottoman Turkish: آقچه‎) (Turkish pronunciation: [aktʃe]) was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire, a silver coin. Middle Turkish akça evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is derived from the Old Turkic ak "white" word in Anatolian Turkish with the + ça suffix.[1] Three akçes were equal to one para. One-hundred and twenty akçes equalled one kuruş. Later after 1687 the kuruş became the main unit of account, replacing the akçe. In 1843, the silver kuruş was joined by the gold lira in a bimetallic system.[2] Its weight fluctuated, one source estimates it is between 1.15 and 1.18 grams.[3] The name akçe originally referred to a silver coin but later the meaning changed and it became a synonym for money.

Akçe issued by Sultan Osman I

The mint in Novo Brdo, a fortified mining town in the Serbian Despotate rich with gold and silver mines, began to strike akçe in 1441 when it was captured by the Ottoman forces for the first time.[4]

The Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul is said to have cost 59 million akçe when it was constructed in the 1550s. This amount is said to have equalled 700,000 ducats in gold (probably Venetian).