20 Kurush

This note belongs to the kaime series issued under Sultan Abdülhamid II, who had just come to power amid a severe fiscal crisis — the Ottoman government had declared partial bankruptcy on its foreign debt in October 1875, just months before these notes entered circulation. The empire's creditors were receiving fifty cents on the dollar while domestic paper currency continued to be pressed into service out of necessity rather than confidence.

The kaime had a troubled history going back decades, repeatedly inflated and reissued, and public trust in Ottoman paper was essentially exhausted by this point. Survival rates for circulated examples are poor — the paper quality of the 1876 issues was inconsistent, and heavy use compounded the damage.