10 Kurush

The Banque Impériale Ottomane was a Franco-British joint-stock institution, not a state bank — it held the Ottoman government's account and enjoyed note-issuing privileges under a series of imperial firmans, the most consequential granted in 1863. This 10 Kurush belongs to the 1876 series issued against the backdrop of the empire's formal declaration of bankruptcy that same year, when the Ottoman Public Debt Commission was still years from being established and foreign creditors were growing openly hostile.

Low-denomination kurush notes from this period suffered heavy wear in bazaar circulation and are genuinely scarce in any condition. The 1876 series was printed with French and Ottoman Turkish text, reflecting the bank's dual administrative character.