Catalog
2½ Piastres
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in the same rose-pink tone with a fine guilloche lattice underprint throughout. To the left, an oval vignette encloses a landscape view of Constantinople, with three lines of Arabic text along the upper portion of the note. The serial number with letter prefix appears in large numerals at the lower right. |
| Reverse lettering | P №351848 |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a European-controlled financial supervisory body established after the Ottoman default of 1875, giving foreign bondholders direct authority over specific imperial revenue streams. That this institution issued emergency small-denomination currency in 1916 reflects just how badly the regular Ottoman treasury had fractured under wartime strain: the empire was essentially printing money through whatever administrative channel still had functioning infrastructure.
Small fractional notes of this type circulated alongside postage stamp currency and other improvised substitutes, filling a coin shortage that had become acute by the middle of the war.