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100 Kuruş
| Issuer | Ottoman Imperial Treasury (Hazine-i Celile) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1861 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Single-sided note printed in dark olive-black ink on plain paper, with an elaborate foliate and scrollwork border framing the central text panel. The tughra (imperial cipher) of Sultan Abdülaziz appears at the top centre, above the Ottoman script inscription stating the denomination of 100 kuruş issued by the Imperial Treasury. The numeral "100" is repeated in each corner within decorative cartouches, and a circular seal of the Imperial Treasury is printed at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | يكت ايكي يوز تمشن تكر سنه سي ياراتي غايه سنده بعين اقتر كمي تداول ايده بك ورقة نقديه در ١٢٧٧ |
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| Comments |
The Hazine-i Celile — literally the "Sublime Treasury" — began issuing paper money in 1840 under fiscal pressure from the Tanzimat reform period, when the empire's chronic debt made conventional coinage inadequate. These early Ottoman treasury notes were not central bank issues in any modern sense; the Hazine issued them directly against anticipated tax revenues, which gave them a fundamentally different character from contemporary European banknotes.
By 1861, the empire had already signed the ruinous Balta Limanı commercial treaty and was deep into the borrowing cycle that would end in the 1875 default. Notes of this series carried an embossed seal rather than printed security features — a deliberate choice that required no foreign printing technology and could be applied domestically in Constantinople.
Forgery was a persistent problem with the Hazine issues throughout the 1850s and 1860s.