100 Livres Turques

The Banque Impériale Ottomane was a Franco-British joint venture, chartered in 1863 and granted the exclusive right to issue banknotes throughout the Ottoman Empire — a concession that remained politically contentious for its entire duration. By 1909, the Young Turk Revolution had just forced a constitutional restoration, and the empire's finances were under acute strain from Balkan instability and heavy foreign debt servicing. Notes of this denomination circulated in an economy where public confidence in paper instruments was fragile at best.

Bradbury, Wilkinson produced several of the BIO's higher-denomination issues during this period. The 100 Livres face value placed this firmly in commercial and inter-bank use rather than everyday retail circulation, which likely limited surviving examples in genuinely circulated grades.