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1/2 Livre Turque
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Livre turque (1844-1927) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in rose-red on a cream paper ground, with the denomination fraction 1/2 appearing in both upper corners within circular ornamental frames. A large Ottoman tughra occupies the upper centre beneath a panel of Arabic script giving the issuing authority and date (22 Kânûn-i Sânî 1331). The central field is filled with intricate arabesque guilloche work framing multiple lines of Ottoman Turkish text stating the note's legal tender conditions, with series designation SÉRIE C and serial number in Latin characters at centre-left and centre-right respectively, and a single manuscript signature at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a very pale rose-red, essentially appearing as a near-blank sheet through which the obverse design shows as a faint mirror image. The upper portion retains a ghost impression of the tughra and Arabic heading, while residual guilloche patterns and text panels are barely discernible, consistent with the single-sided printing convention used for this emergency wartime issue. |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a European-controlled body established in 1881 after the Sublime Porte defaulted on its foreign loans. That a debt-management organ rather than the Ottoman Bank issued wartime currency in 1916 reflects how thoroughly external creditors had penetrated Ottoman fiscal infrastructure. With the empire's finances under severe strain from the Gallipoli campaign and the broader Sinai-Palestine theater, these fractional notes plugged a gap left by the disappearance of coin from circulation.
The half-livre denomination was a practical response to hoarding — silver had vanished almost entirely from Ottoman markets by mid-war.