50 Kuruş

This 1861 issue belongs to the earliest phase of Ottoman paper money — the kaime, introduced in 1840 as a wartime fiscal expedient and never fully trusted by the population. The Ottoman Treasury, not the imperial bank, remained the issuer for these fractional denominations well into the 1860s, partly because the newly chartered Bank-ı Osmanî had no mandate to issue currency at this stage.

Small kaime denominations like this 50 Kuruş circulated at a persistent discount to face value throughout their existence. Provincial merchants frequently refused them outright.