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5 Livres Turques
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is laid out with an elaborate guilloche border in blue and grey tones enclosing a central oval cartouche bearing the denomination and Ottoman Turkish text in ornate naskh calligraphy. The imperial tughra of Sultan Mehmed V is printed at the top centre above the main inscription panel, with the numeral '5' repeated in each corner. Serial number appears in red beneath the central text block, flanked by two rosette seal impressions, and a signature line is visible below. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed predominantly in blue and grey with a symmetrical guilloche framework composed of floral rosette medallions at left and right flanking a central rectangular text panel. The panel contains multiple lines of Ottoman Turkish script in naskh style setting out the legal tender declaration, with a manuscript signature below. The numeral '5' appears at the left and right edges within the ornamental border. |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a remarkable institution: a European-controlled financial body established in 1881 to manage the empire's defaulted foreign loans, staffed largely by French and British creditors operating from within Istanbul. That it was still issuing emergency currency as late as 1915, with the empire deep in the First World War and the regular banking system under severe strain, speaks to how thoroughly the OPDA had embedded itself in Ottoman fiscal infrastructure.
Wartime paper shortages and disrupted supply chains pushed many of these notes into genuinely rough condition during circulation. The watermark security was minimal protection against the widespread counterfeiting that plagued Ottoman paper money throughout 1915–1918.