Catalog
1/4 Livre Turque
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | ¼ Livre Turque |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | دولت علیّه عثمانیه ٢٢ قانون اول ١٣٣١ SÉRIE C |
| Reverse description | The reverse is essentially unprinted, showing only a faint ghost impression of the obverse design visible through the thin paper stock, with no distinct vignette, text, or decorative elements applied to this side. |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a European-controlled financial body established in 1881 after the Empire defaulted on its foreign borrowings. That a wartime emergency currency would be issued under its authority rather than the Imperial treasury reflects the political awkwardness of Ottoman state finance in 1916: the administration nominally represented foreign creditor interests even as the Empire fought on the Central Powers side.
Small-denomination fractional notes like this quarter-livre were necessitated by acute coin shortages as metal was diverted to military use. Hoarding of metallic currency across the Levant was widespread by mid-war.