Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Kuruş
| Issuer | Banque Impériale Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in reddish-brown on plain paper, with an ornate floral and scroll border framing a central cartouche containing Ottoman Turkish text in Arabic script. The tughra of the Sultan appears at the top centre above the main inscription panel, with the denomination numeral repeated in the four corners. The overall layout is letterpress-printed with decorative side columns of interlacing foliate ornament. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | اوراق نقديه دولت عليه دن يالكيزكيمي غروشلق قائمه معتبره در |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banque Impériale Ottomane — founded in 1863 under joint Anglo-French capital and holding the Ottoman note-issue monopoly — produced this 20 Kuruş during one of the empire's most acute fiscal crises. The Russo-Turkish War was looming, state debt was spiraling, and the Porte had already suspended external debt payments in October 1875. Small-denomination paper issues like this one were part of a desperate effort to manage liquidity when hard currency was being hoarded.
The ink stamp security feature is characteristically rudimentary for the period — and notoriously easy to forge, a vulnerability that plagued Ottoman small notes throughout the 1870s.