Catalog
10 Livres
| Issuer | Imperial Ottoman Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Livres |
| 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 is dominated by an elaborate geometric guilloche border with interlocking star and arabesque ornamental frames in brown and olive tones. The imperial toughra appears at upper centre within a circular vignette, flanked by the Arabic inscription of the issuer and date in Ottoman script. The denomination numeral '10' appears in large Western and Arabic-script figures at left and right within star-shaped cartouches, with two green rosette underprint medallions at lower centre bearing the value in Arabic numerals. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | بو بوزلجه ای نفسه و ذلك فارسطملي وبيورموكيه حكمآ اماه سنو رويع ايلشدر لما فغيره سويقي قابيلمله وطوسو ن لابيلر ونقد عنتباره ره هاطصملدر امور طرلك براها شنهره كاسلدة اراجنه مقبول حيت السلطاني الاوراق قبل مقابلنده طابه اوله بيلر |
| 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 Imperial Ottoman Bank — a Franco-British joint venture that held the Ottoman Empire's central banking concession — found itself in an impossible position after 1914. With its French and British shareholders now enemy nationals, the bank's operations were severely curtailed. The Ottoman government turned instead to German institutional support, and German printing infrastructure followed: this note was produced by the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin, a direct consequence of the wartime alliance cemented by the 1914 German-Ottoman pact.
By 1916 the empire was hemorrhaging currency stability. Notes like this one circulated alongside issues from the Ottoman Public Debt Administration and government-backed kaime, in a monetary environment of compounding distrust. The Reichsdruckerei imprint is visible in the engraving quality — sharper intaglio work than the domestic Ottoman presswork of the same period.