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50 Livres Turques
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Livres Turques |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a single olive-green tone on plain cream paper with a subtle geometric guilloche underprint. The denomination numerals '50' appear at upper left and upper right corners, and multiple lines of Ottoman calligraphic text in Diwani script fill the central field, conveying the legal tender obligation text. Two circular medallions — one bearing the 'LIVRES TURQUES' inscription in Latin characters and one with an Ottoman seal — are positioned at the lower corners, with a manuscript-style signature reproduced below the central text block. |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Watermarked cotton paper; serial number prefix letters serve as a control identifier. |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a foreign-controlled body established in 1881 after the empire's default, granting European creditors direct oversight of Ottoman revenues. By 1916 it had become an instrument of wartime finance, issuing paper to fund a state increasingly dependent on German military and financial support. This note belongs to a series printed under acute wartime pressure, with the empire's credit essentially exhausted on international markets.
The 50 Livres denomination was the highest in this issue, making it more a tool of large government transfers than everyday commerce. Inflation during 1915–1918 eroded its purchasing power rapidly, and many notes were withdrawn before the armistice.