10 Kuruş

This tiny-denomination note was issued during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, when the Ottoman treasury was under severe strain and small-change shortages made fractional paper currency a practical necessity rather than a policy choice. The Banque Impériale Ottomane — itself a Franco-British joint venture, not a state institution — was pressed into filling a gap that metallic coinage could no longer cover as silver and copper were hoarded or melted.

The sole security feature is an official stamp, which made these notes trivially easy to counterfeit and almost certainly contributed to rapid withdrawal from circulation once the war ended.