20 Kurush

The 1861 Kaime issue marked a particularly unstable moment in Ottoman monetary affairs. Following the Crimean War and mounting pressure on the imperial treasury, paper money had been repeatedly debased and reissued under emergency conditions — public confidence in kaime notes was so low by the late 1850s that they traded at severe discounts to their face value, sometimes losing 60–70% against metallic currency.

Pick 36 belongs to the fourth kaime series, part of an attempt to stabilize circulation through formal denominated issues with more elaborate printing. The effort had limited success. Withdrawal and replacement came within years.