Catalog
5 Piastres
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in reddish-brown on cream stock, the obverse is centred on an ornate lobed cartouche with fine guilloche underprint, flanked at the upper left and right corners by denomination numeral '5' set within decorative frames. The Ottoman tughra occupies the top centre, with the date '22 Kânûn-i Evvel 1331' inscribed in Ottoman script beneath the heading, and series designation 'SÉRIE F' at centre left. Several lines of Ottoman Arabic script forming the promise-to-pay clause fill the lower portion, above a manuscript signature. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted cream stock, bearing only a faint offset impression of the obverse design visible through the thin paper, with traces of the 'SÉRIE F' designation and serial number area discernible in mirror image. No substantive design elements are present. |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was not a bank but a foreign creditor body established in 1881 to manage repayment of the empire's defaulted external debt, largely controlled by European bondholders. That it ended up issuing emergency currency in 1916 reflects how badly the Ottoman financial apparatus had fractured under wartime strain. The Imperial Treasury and the Bank-i Osmani could not keep pace with demand for small-denomination notes, so this body, never designed for monetary functions, was pressed into service.
Small-denomination wartime issues from this series circulated hard and survived poorly.