Catalog
500 Livres Turques
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Livres Turques |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green-tinted note with an intricate overall guilloche border in an arabesqued geometric pattern. At centre, a pointed-arch ogival frame encloses multi-line Ottoman Turkish text in thuluth calligraphy, surmounted by the Imperial tughra of Sultan Mehmed VI at top centre; the denomination '500' appears in both Arabic-Eastern and Western numerals at the four corners and in two large circular underprint cartouches in the lower portion. Serial number in red appears on both left and right flanks of the central text panel. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Serial number |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a European-controlled body established after the Ottoman state's default in 1881, its finances placed under international receivership. That this institution was still issuing currency in 1918 tells you something about how completely the empire's fiscal structure had collapsed by the final year of the war: the Treasury could not issue notes on its own credibility alone, and the OPDA's European imprimatur was needed to give the paper any claim to legitimacy.
The 500 Livres denomination was enormous for wartime circulation. Hyperinflationary pressure in the final Ottoman war years made large-denomination notes necessary but also immediately suspect.