Catalog
1 Livre Turque / Lira Othomaniki
| Issuer | Banque Impériale Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1874 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Livre Turque |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The face of the note is organized around a central panel of Ottoman Turkish calligraphic text in naskh script, set within an ornate oval guilloche cartouche. The issuer name "BANQUE IMPERIALE OTTOMANE" is printed diagonally across the note in both directions as a cross-pattern underprint, with the serial number "20001" appearing twice in black numerals flanking the central vignette. Corner panels carry the denomination in four languages — French ("LIVRE TURQUE"), Greek ("ΛΙΡΑ ΟΘΩΜΑΝΙΚΗ"), Armenian, and Arabic — framed by fine lathe-work borders, with the imperial tughra device at the top center. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE IMPERIALE OTTOMANE LIVRE TURQUE ΛΙΡΑ ΟΘΩΜΑΝΙΚΗ ١ 1 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banque Impériale Ottomane — founded in 1863 under a joint Anglo-French charter — held the exclusive right to issue banknotes in the Ottoman Empire, a privilege that made it simultaneously a central bank and a foreign-controlled commercial institution. This 1 Livre note from 1874 falls within the period when Ottoman public trust in paper money remained deeply fragile, still damaged by the forced-currency fiascos of the Kaime issues that had collapsed in value decades earlier.
The bilingual denomination — French and Ottoman Greek transliteration side by side — reflects the bank's fundamentally hybrid character: an institution that answered as much to Paris and London as to the Sublime Porte.