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20 Kuruş
| Issuer | Banque Impériale Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876-1878 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 Kuruş |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in red-brown ink on plain paper and framed by an ornate foliate border with corner rosettes. The Ottoman tughra appears at the top center, below which large Ottoman-script numerals and multi-line Arabic calligraphic text state the denomination and the authority of the Ottoman state. A rectangular registration stamp with serial number is affixed in the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ٢٠ اوراق نقدية دولت عليه دن يالكزيكمي غروشاق |
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| Comments |
The Banque Impériale Ottomane issued this note during one of the Ottoman Empire's most acute fiscal crises — the years surrounding the 1876 state bankruptcy declaration, the first sovereign default in Ottoman history. The empire had been hemorrhaging money financing the 1875 Balkan uprisings and servicing European bond debt, and paper money of small denominations like this 20 Kuruş was pushed into circulation to cover basic government expenditures when coin was effectively unavailable.
Printed in Constantinople rather than abroad, these notes lack the engraving quality of earlier BIO issues produced by European security printers. The war with Russia began in 1877, and notes from this window are frequently found in poor condition — unsurprising given the economic dislocation of that period.