Catalog
2½ Livres Turques
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
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| Size | 138 x 88 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is framed by an intricate teal guilloche border with ornamental corner rosettes and a continuous arabesque pattern. A large central cartouche in an ogival arch form carries the denomination in Ottoman Turkish calligraphy, with the tughra of Sultan Mehmed VI at the top centre. The numeral 2½ appears twice in the left and right margins, flanked by fine engine-turned underprint scrollwork, with the serial number and a small circular seal visible at the lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | دولت عثمانية قرش ١٣٢٤ ٢٨ |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was itself a product of European creditor control, established after the empire's 1875 default to manage repayment to foreign bondholders. By 1918, with the empire fighting its last war alongside the Central Powers and the treasury effectively exhausted, the OPDA was issuing emergency currency at denominations including this fractional 2½-livre piece. The arrangement was fiscally peculiar: a debt administration organ functioning as a note-issuing authority.
The seal constitutes the sole security feature, which was thin even by wartime standards. Forgery risk was considerable, and the notes circulated in an economy already destabilized by military requisitioning and severe coin shortages that had been building since 1914.