Catalog
1/2 Livre
| Issuer | Ottoman Public Debt Administration (Dette Publique Ottomane) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Livre |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The tughra of Sultan Mehmed V is positioned at upper centre above a dense red arabesque guilloche underprint that fills the entire field. The denomination '1/2' appears in circular cartouches at each corner, with the central area occupied by multiple lines of Ottoman script text including the issuing authority legend and the promise-to-pay clause. Series letter and serial number are printed in black at left and right of centre respectively, with two manuscript signatures below the main text block. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | حقوق عثمانية شبا ١٣٢٢ مارچ قانونو خيجة SÉRIE J |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane was not a bank — it was a European creditor-controlled supervisory body established under the Muharrem Decree of 1881 to administer Ottoman debt repayment after the empire's 1875 default. That it issued paper currency at all is the anomaly here. These notes appeared in 1916 under the strain of wartime finance, when the empire's treasury and the Imperial Ottoman Bank were both struggling to maintain any semblance of monetary credibility.
The series is notoriously prone to ink bleed through thin wartime paper stock — a known characteristic across P#96 through P#100, not a condition defect specific to individual examples.