Catalog
5 Piastres
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Piastre (1800-1922) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, showing only the plain light blue-grey paper stock with a faint watermark pattern visible when viewed in raking light; the ghost impression of the obverse design is visible through the thin paper. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Watermark visible in the paper stock on the reverse side. |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a foreign-controlled body established in 1881 after the empire's sovereign default, run primarily by European creditor interests. That this institution was issuing paper currency by 1917 reflects how badly the Ottoman financial apparatus had fractured under the strains of the First World War. The treasury was so depleted that even a foreign debt management office was pressed into producing emergency circulating notes.
Small-denomination issues like this were particularly subject to heavy wear and hoarding, and surviving examples in any reasonable condition are genuinely harder to find than the series' modest profile might suggest.