Catalog
500 Livres
| Issuer | Ottoman Public Debt Administration (Düyun-u Umumiye) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The Ottoman tughra appears at upper centre within an ornate guilloche border framing the entire note. The denomination '500' is repeated in the four corners alongside intricate floral arabesque vignettes, with a central cartouche containing Ottoman script text and the date. Two circular underprint rosettes flank the lower portion, with the serial number printed in black at lower left and lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | دولت علیّه عثمانیه ٥٠٠ 500 28 ذی الحجه 1334 |
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| Comments |
The Ottoman Public Debt Administration was not a bank — it was a foreign creditor body established in 1881 to manage repayment of the empire's defaulted external debt, staffed largely by European bondholders' representatives. That it began issuing emergency paper currency in 1916 reflects how completely the empire's financial infrastructure had collapsed under wartime strain, with the Imperial Treasury unable to meet even basic liquidity demands without ceding the function to this quasi-sovereign foreign-controlled agency.
The 500 Livres denomination was the highest in the P#114 series, almost certainly too large for ordinary retail use and likely intended for inter-institutional settlements. High-denomination wartime issues of this type were frequently cancelled or destroyed before the armistice ended their relevance.