Catalog
20 Kuruş
| Issuer | Ottoman Imperial Treasury |
|---|---|
| Year | 1854 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Kuruş |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is largely plain, printed on the same cream paper stock, with a faint mirror impression of the obverse sunburst and border design visible as a bleed-through from the face. At the centre, a circular inked seal impression bearing Ottoman calligraphy — matching the treasury seal — is the sole intentional design element on this side. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Circular Ottoman Imperial Treasury seal impressed in ink on both obverse and reverse |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The 1854 Ottoman kaime notes emerged from fiscal desperation. The Crimean War had begun, and the Imperial Treasury lacked the hard currency to fund both military operations and routine government expenditure. These paper obligations — kaime — were not issued by a central bank, because no such institution yet existed in Ottoman financial infrastructure. The Imperial Treasury issued them directly, which is precisely why confidence in them was chronically fragile.
Counterfeiting was a persistent and well-documented problem with the kaime series, serious enough that the government attempted multiple reissue and recall cycles throughout the 1850s. An official seal was the primary — and by modern standards, woefully inadequate — security measure.