Alms box. "Holy Society" of the Küfecis guild, [Hasköy], Istanbul, [late 19th century].
Silver (marked thrice), cast and engraved.
Cylindrical alms box, shaped like a small pitcher, with a concave lid, connected by a hinge, slotted to allow deposit of small change, and with small hook for opening. Handle in shape of twisted branch.
Side of box decorated with branches and flowers, and with engraved Hebrew dedicatory inscription, enclosed within three elliptical medallions: "… The Holy society of küfevis [!], Moshe Ya'ish […] Rabbi Shemuel Denan […] Avraham Mailruzado […] and Rabbi Ye'udah Fereira […]".
The charity represented by this alms box served members of Küfecis guild, which was probably an organization representing peddlers, possibly fruit and vegetable vendors, who carried their merchandise either in a basket slung over the back, or inside a case on wheels.
The Istanbul-based Küfecis guild is mentioned a number of times in a collection of documents originating with the charitable organizations of another guild, specifically the Kaïkçis ("boat owners") guild, which was a parent guild that provided seafaring transportation services to the Jewish guilds that required them. Because the city of Istanbul and its suburbs occupy parts of three distinct regions separated by two broad channels, namely the Golden Horn Estuary and the Bosphorus Strait, their inhabitants were in need of cheap and speedy transport services which were provided by small sea taxis that ferried back and forth from place to place; a boat such as this was known in Turkish as kaïk.
On the basis of these documents (dated 1835, 1900, and 1911) – part of the Collection of Prof. Rabbi Meir Benayahu, Jerusalem – it appears that the Küfecis guild was based in Hasköy, formerly a village on the outskirts of Istanbul that was home to a sizable segment of the Jewish community following the Expulsion from Spain, and today a residential quarter of the city. Some of these documents are cited in their entirety in an article (in Hebrew) by Prof. Yaron Ben-Naeh entitled "Charity and Benevolence on the Banks of the Bosphorus".
Height: 10.5 cm. Width: 10.5 cm.
A similar alms box of the "Holy Society of Küfecis" can be found in the Israel Museum Collection, item no. B51.05.0287; see Sephardi Jews in the Ottoman Empire, item no. 38.
Reference: Yaron Ben-Naeh, "Charity and Benevolence on the Banks of the Bosphorus: Benevolent Societies of the Kaïkçis in Istanbul" (Hebrew), in: Joseph R. Hacker and Yaron Harel (eds.), "The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah: Leadership, Rabbinate, and Community in Jewish History, Studies Presented to Professor Simon Schwarzfuchs," Bialik Institute, Jerusalem, 2011 (Hebrew).
Purchased in Istanbul in 2003.

Qawas, mace-like staff of the type used by official Ottoman guardians and gatekeepers. [Ottoman Empire / Palestine, early 20th century].
Silver, stamped and engraved; painted wood.
Long wooden mace-like staff, with upper part coated with silver – massive, conical, eight-sided head and narrow cylindrical band, all adorned with strips of leaves and flowers.
The term "qawas" is defined, in general, as the guardian or gatekeeper of a large, important institution, or the emissary of an embassy or consulate. Over time, the term began to be applied to the actual object – the mace – and not just the official holding it. The qawas was in use in the Ottoman Empire, and in some parts of Palestine, late as the early decades of the 20th century. They were also owned and used by Qawas officials who were in the service of Jewish persons, such as the chief rabbis.
Length: 120 cm. Maximum width: 6 cm. Warping and minor blemishes to silver.

Embroidered oval fabric. Ottoman Empire, [early 20th century].
Linen, cotton and silk embroidery thread, metal thread.
Oval fabric entirely embroidered with thread in shades of cream, brown, blue, and purple. At center, Star of David, encircled by vegetal patterns and enclosing Hebrew word "Zion," encircled in turn by band with Hebrew name "Jerusalem" (four times) and circlets, in recurrent pattern. Metal-thread embroidery in margins. This embroidered fabric may have served as a sukkah decoration or, alternatively, as a matzah cover on seder night.
43X38 cm. Good condition. Some stains. Some unraveling.
Reference: Sephardi Jews in the Ottoman Empire: Aspects of Material Culture, p. 90; Shimmering Gold, the Splendor of Gold Embroidered Textiles, pp. 68-69.

11 postcards depicting Jews of Yemen and Djibouti. Various publishers and locales, [ca. 1900-30].
Nine of the postcards feature Jews originating from Yemen (some in Yemen, others in Palestine), and two feature Jews in Djibouti. One undivided-back postcard.
Average size: 9X14 cm. Condition varies.

Pair of Torah finials. Yemen, [19th century].
Brass, cast and engraved.
Small, slender, elegant pair of Yemenite-style Torah finials. Baluster form, with two upper pear-like faceted knops, an undecorated band and a single gadrooned spheroid knop. Surfaces of both upper sections with vegetal patterns and with two biblical verses, engraved in particularly elegant Hebrew letters: "The Torah of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right" on one finial, and continuing: "gladdening the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Psalms 19:8-9) on the other. These very same verses also appear on the earliest known pair of Torah finials, dating from the 15th century and kept in the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
The present Torah finials are unusual insofar as typical Yemenite finials of this variety are almost entirely lacking in decorations, and in particular, inscriptions with biblical verses are very much the exception and not the rule.
Height: 20.5-21 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes to shaft. Shafts may have been shortened over the years.