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50 000 Livres
| Issuer | Ottoman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 000 Livres (50 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | دولتِ عليّهٔ عثمانيّه LIVRES TURQUES 50000 |
| Reverse description | Printed in a monochromatic rose-red colour scheme, the reverse carries a large central cartouche filled with multiple lines of Ottoman Arabic text setting out the note's legal and monetary conditions, enclosed within an elaborate guilloche border. The denomination '50000' appears in Arabic-script numerals at the top and in Western numerals at the bottom centre, with small oval medallions bearing calligraphic inscriptions placed at the upper corners. The 'LIVRES TURQUES' legend is repeated in the lower side panels. |
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| Comments |
The Ottoman Empire entered World War I in late October 1914, and the financial strain was immediate. The empire had been functionally bankrupt for years, its monetary system propped up by foreign loans that evaporated with the war. These high-denomination kaime notes were issued through the Imperial Treasury rather than a functioning central bank — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, controlled largely by European creditors, was no longer a viable instrument for wartime finance.
Rapid inflation followed. By the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, Ottoman paper currency had collapsed in purchasing power, and much of the circulating issue was repudiated outright during the subsequent transition to Turkish Republican currency in the 1920s.