5 Lira Green reverse

Turkey's second emission of 5 Lira notes — the first having appeared in 1937 — arrived at a politically turbulent moment. The 1959 date places this note squarely in the final year before the May 1960 military coup that overthrew the Menderes government, a period of acute economic stress marked by chronic inflation and IMF intervention. Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility had a long-standing relationship with the Merkez Bankası, producing several Turkish series through the mid-century decades.

The green reverse distinguishes this from the earlier printings of the same denomination, and gives collectors a quick visual differentiator within the P#155 group.