Catalog
1 Livre
| Issuer | Banque Impériale Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The toughra of the reigning sultan is positioned at upper centre, flanked by the repeated guilloche-bordered bank name BANQUE IMPERIALE OTTOMANE in letterpress across the horizontal axis. A central panel of Arabic calligraphic text is surrounded by an intricate oval guilloche frame, with serial numbers printed in black at left and right. Corner cartouches carry the denomination in four scripts — French, Armenian, Greek, and Arabic — reflecting the multinational character of the issuing institution. |
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| Obverse lettering | BANQUE IMPERIALE OTTOMANE LIVRE TURQUE 1 ΛΙΡΑ ΟΘΩΜΑΝΙΚΗ АИРА 1 20001 |
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| Comments |
The Banque Impériale Ottomane — jointly founded by British and French capital in 1863 — held the exclusive right to issue banknotes throughout the Ottoman Empire, a privilege that made it functionally the empire's central bank despite being majority foreign-owned. This 1873 issue arrived during a period of severe fiscal strain: the Porte had been borrowing heavily on European markets since the Crimean War, and paper currency was viewed with deep suspicion by a population accustomed to metallic coinage.
Acceptance was never smooth. Anatolian markets in particular resisted Ottoman banknotes well into the 1880s, and surviving circulated examples from this series often show heavy handling concentrated at the folds — evidence of reluctant but repeated use in urban commercial settings.