On the richly decorated stone from 1763 the following chronogram is inscribed in a banderole above the purse:
haeC CoLonIensIs bVrsa Dat honoreM Urbi,
i.e. this purse from Cologne (or from the Cologneite) honours the city.
This could refer to the establishment of a Cologne trading house. Good trade relations were maintained with that city from time immemorial.
The stone was reinstalled in 1962 in the restored house Smedenstraat 15, which used to be called "the cauldron."
Wondering what the name "the kölse tes" might mean locally, one ends up in Central Limburg, where this is the designation of a marble fair. In the Haelen dialect a "kölsekuulke" is the same as a Maastricht "sjaarkoil." But in the end, the owner kept it to a fair with money anyway, because there is little honour to be had with marbles themselves even though it is usually about this.
IN THE CITY OF COLOGNE at Stenenwal 23, there is more proof of the connection between Cologne and Maastricht.
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