1 Kurush Second 'Kaime' issue

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.