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2 1/2 Piastres Law of 23 May RC1332
| Issuer | Ottoman Public Debt Administration (Düyun-u Umumiye) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Printed entirely in red and black on cream paper, the obverse is divided into two panels by a decorative guilloche border. The larger left panel carries the tughra of Sultan Mehmed V at the top centre, below which the issuer name in Ottoman calligraphic script appears, followed by the law date '23 Mayıs 1332' and a horizontal black band bearing the promise-to-pay text in Arabic script. Two signature lines with Ottoman titles appear at the lower portion of the panel. The narrower right panel displays the denomination fraction '2½' in large bold numerals above the word 'غروش' (Guruş) in Arabic script, all within an arched guilloche frame. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in red on cream paper and features two main decorative panels. The left panel encloses a faint landscape vignette within an elaborate scrollwork cartouche. The right panel, bordered by a scalloped guilloche surround with floral rosette ornaments, contains three lines of Ottoman Arabic legal text stating the note's validity conditions, below which the serial letter prefix and serial number are printed in bold black numerals. |
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| Comments |
The Düyun-u Umumiye — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was the body established in 1881 to manage Ottoman state debts on behalf of European creditors. That an institution designed to service foreign bondholders ended up issuing wartime fractional currency in 1916 is one of the stranger administrative inversions of the First World War. With the Imperial Ottoman Bank and the regular treasury both strained, the OPDA stepped in to fill a chronic shortage of small-denomination notes.
The RC1332 dating follows the Rumi calendar, equivalent to 1916 CE. The law of 23 May authorized this emission specifically.