Catalog
1 Livre Turque
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | دیون عمومیه عثمانیه A 654119 A 854119 |
| Reverse description | Entirely in green, the reverse presents a large lobed central cartouche filled with multiple lines of Ottoman calligraphic text stating the note's legal tender conditions and obligations of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration. The cartouche is surrounded by interlocking guilloche rosette patterns that fill the field to the ornamental border, and a single handwritten signature appears below the text panel. |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a European-controlled body established in 1881 after the empire defaulted on its foreign loans. That a debt management agency was issuing currency by 1916 reflects how badly the war had strained the regular treasury. These notes circulated alongside issues from the Imperial Ottoman Bank, and the public treated the two with roughly equal suspicion.
The 1916 series was printed in Constantinople rather than abroad, a necessity once wartime conditions severed reliable access to Western printing houses. Domestic production meant cruder security features, and the notes were subsequently counterfeited at a scale that accelerated their withdrawal.