100 Kurush

Pick 41 belongs to the third Ottoman paper money series, issued under Sultan Abdülmecid I's government as the empire's fiscal position deteriorated sharply following the Crimean War. The Kaime — as Ottoman paper currency was broadly known — had already suffered a credibility collapse in the late 1840s when earlier issues were printed without adequate backing and traded at severe discounts to face value. By 1861, the government was attempting to rehabilitate paper money through tighter controls and the introduction of watermarked stock, a deliberate departure from the earlier unprotected issues.

Forgery had been a persistent problem throughout the Kaime's history, and the watermark on this series was a direct response to that. Whether it achieved much deterrence is another matter — Ottoman paper money never fully recovered public trust before the series was eventually retired.