Catalog
10 Livres
| Issuer | Imperial Ottoman Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Lira (1844-1923) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The Imperial toughra of Sultan Mehmed V is centred at the top within a fine guilloche border. The denomination numeral '10' appears in both Western and Eastern Arabic scripts at left and right within six-pointed star vignettes, flanking a central panel of Ottoman calligraphic inscriptions. Two circular green rosette underprints flank a handwritten signature at lower centre, with additional Arabic legends along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | ١٠ |
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| Comments |
The Imperial Ottoman Bank did not print this note — the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin did, under wartime agreement between the Ottoman Empire and its German ally. By 1916 the Allies had effectively cut Istanbul off from its usual French and British printers, so Germany stepped in as the practical alternative. The shift is visible in the engraving style if you know what to look for: tighter, harder lines than the Parisian work that dominates earlier Ottoman issues.
The Reichsdruckerei had been printing German state securities and currency since the 1870s, and the Ottoman contract was one of several wartime foreign commissions it handled. Notes from this 1916 series circulated under increasingly difficult conditions as the Ottoman economy deteriorated through the final years of the war.