Ottoman 1914 Coffee Order Document Sarkis Sarkisyan Company Armenian Citizens Armenia
Ottoman Coffee Order Document from İzmit – Sarkis Sarkisyan Company Letterhead (1914)
Description:
This Ottoman commercial order document is dated 21 May 1914 and was issued on the printed letterhead of the Sarkis Sarkisyan Company, an Armenian-owned business operating in İzmit during the late Ottoman period. The document concerns a large-scale coffee purchase made by Hacı İbrahimzade Faziletlû Hilmi Bey, whose location appears to read either Langa or Lefke; however, the exact reading remains uncertain due to the difficulty of deciphering Ottoman rika handwriting.
According to the document, Hilmi Bey purchased a substantial quantity of coffee from Sarkis Bey, with the quantities recorded in detail and the total payment amount stated as 16,092 kuruş. Because of the scale of the transaction, additional notes appear in the lower section concerning shipment arrangements, pricing details, and delivery matters, reflecting the complexity of commercial logistics in the late Ottoman economy.
The document is especially notable for its multilingual structure. Three different languages and alphabets appear together on the same commercial paper: Ottoman Turkish, Armenian, and French. This multilingual presentation vividly illustrates the cosmopolitan commercial culture of the Ottoman Empire during its final years, when merchants and trading houses frequently operated across linguistic and communal boundaries. Armenian annotations and signatures are present alongside Ottoman Turkish administrative writing, while French reflects the broader international commercial language of the era.
The presence of Armenian signatures and revenue stamps further enhances the historical and visual character of the document. Beyond its commercial purpose, the paper serves as valuable evidence of economic relations between Muslim and non-Muslim Ottoman citizens and provides insight into the merchant networks linking İzmit with other commercial centers of the empire.
As an original business document from the final years of the Ottoman Empire, this piece offers an important glimpse into Ottoman trade culture, multilingual administration, and everyday commercial practice. It is particularly valuable for collectors interested in Ottoman economic history, Armenian commercial enterprises, coffee trade documentation, and the multicultural business environment of the early twentieth century.
Key Features:
• Type: Ottoman commercial coffee order document
• Date: 21 May 1914
• Company: Sarkis Sarkisyan Company, İzmit
• Language: Ottoman Turkish, Armenian, and French
• Subject: Large-scale coffee purchase and shipment arrangement
• Customer: Hacı İbrahimzade Faziletlû Hilmi Bey (location possibly read as Langa or Lefke; uncertain due to Ottoman rika handwriting)
• Product: Coffee
• Payment Amount: 16,092 kuruş
• Special Feature: Multilingual commercial document using three languages and alphabets on the same paper
• Commercial Context: Demonstrates trade relations between Muslim and Armenian Ottoman merchants during the late Ottoman period
• Historical Context: Reflects the multilingual and multicultural commercial structure of the Ottoman Empire shortly before the First World War
• Physical Features: Original letterhead, Armenian signatures, Ottoman annotations, and revenue stamps
• Collectible Significance: Valuable for collectors of Ottoman commercial history, Armenian business documents, coffee trade material, İzmit history, and multilingual Ottoman ephemera