Catalog
1 Kurush Second 'Kaime' issue
| Issuer | Ottoman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876-1877 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Kurush (0.01) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain cream paper with perforated edges on three sides. A circular seal with Arabic script is applied to the upper centre, and below it a decorative cartouche carries the bilingual registration stamp of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, with the serial number printed within an ornate frame flanked by crescent-and-star devices and the year date at the foot. |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Perforated edges on three sides of the note, serving as an anti-counterfeiting and authentication measure. |
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| Comments |
The term "kaime" — from the Arabic qā'ima, meaning a standing or upright document — entered Ottoman financial vocabulary during the disastrous Crimean War borrowing of the 1850s and never fully shed its association with fiscal distress. This second kaime issue was produced during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, when the empire was once again forced to monetize its debt obligations rather than service them in coin. The 1 Kurush denomination was effectively petty change converted to paper — an emergency measure that the public received with justified skepticism.
The perforated edges were a security feature intended to complicate forgery, though counterfeiting of kaime notes was a persistent problem throughout the series.