Catalog
5 Livres
| Issuer | Ottoman Public Debt Administration (Düyun-u Umumiye) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Lira (1844-1923) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | دولت عليه عثمانيه |
| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by an elaborate interlocking guilloche framework in blue-grey tones, with the numeral '5' repeated at left and right within decorative roundels. A central rectangular panel, set on a lightly patterned ground, contains a multi-line text block in Arabic script presenting the note's redemption and legal tender clauses, with a manuscript signature below. The overall design is symmetrical and heavily ornate, consistent with the high-security printing style of Giesecke & Devrient. |
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| Comments |
The Düyun-u Umumiye — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was itself a creature of imperial bankruptcy, established in 1881 to give European creditors direct control over Ottoman tax revenues after the default of 1875. That a body run largely by foreign bondholders was still issuing emergency currency as late as 1915 reflects just how fractured Ottoman financial administration had become under wartime pressure.
Giesecke & Devrient in Leipzig supplied the printing, which places production squarely within the German alliance network the Ottomans depended on during the First World War. By 1915 the regular Ottoman Treasury was also issuing its own kaime notes in parallel, creating a chaotic multi-issuer currency environment that accelerated inflation throughout Anatolia and the Arab provinces.