500 Lira Atatürk

Turkey's prewar 500 Lira notes were among the highest denominations in circulation at a time when the average daily wage made such a note essentially theoretical for most of the population. De La Rue held the Turkish printing contract through much of this period, producing work of noticeably higher engraving quality than the domestic alternatives that would follow during the wartime supply disruptions of the early 1940s.

Atatürk had died in November 1938, months before this note entered circulation — making P#131 one of the earliest issues to carry his image posthumously rather than as a sitting head of state. High-denomination notes of this series were frequently hoarded rather than spent, which paradoxically contributes to survivor populations in used grades being relatively thin.