50 Kuruş

The Banque Impériale Ottomane — founded in 1863 under joint British and French capital as a private institution holding Ottoman state banking functions — issued fractional notes like this 50 Kuruş during a period of acute fiscal distress. The Ottoman state had suspended external debt payments in 1875, and small-denomination paper was filling gaps left by coin shortages and a contracting money supply.

The single security feature — an official stamp — reflects how rudimentary anti-counterfeiting measures were for low-value fractional issues. These circulated hard and survived poorly.