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25 Livres
| Issuer | Ottoman Public Debt Administration (Düyun-u Umumiye) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 25 Livres |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The face is dominated by an elaborate interlaced geometric and floral guilloche border in dark red and olive, with teardrop-shaped medallions at the corners. The imperial toughra of Sultan Mehmed V is positioned at upper centre within a circular cartouche, flanked by Arabic inscriptions giving the denomination and issuing authority. The denomination numeral '25' appears in Western and Arabic-Eastern script at lower left and lower right respectively, with the serial number printed twice in black across the lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries the same elaborate guilloche and floral border framework as the face, rendered in brown tones. A large central panel contains a multi-line Ottoman Turkish text in Arabic script setting out the legal tender declaration and redemption conditions. The denomination '25' appears in large numerals at upper left and upper right within decorative medallions, and two circular seal impressions in dark ink are placed at lower left and lower right. A manuscript signature crosses the lower portion of the central text panel. |
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| Comments |
The Ottoman Public Debt Administration was not a bank — it was an international creditor body established in 1881 to manage revenues pledged against the Ottoman Empire's defaulted foreign loans. By 1917, with the empire at war alongside Germany and the Allies controlling Mediterranean supply lines, the Düyun-u Umumiye turned to the Reichsdruckerei in Berlin to produce paper currency it would never have issued under peacetime conditions. The arrangement was as much political as logistical.
Reichsdruckerei production for an Ottoman creditor organ in the middle of a German-Ottoman military alliance is a detail that sharpens the note's historical position considerably. It did not survive long as a functioning instrument — the 1918 armistice and the subsequent dissolution of the Düyun-u Umumiye itself in 1923 rendered the entire series obsolete.