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5 Piastres
| Issuer | Dette Publique Ottomane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Reference(s) | P#87 |
| Obverse description | Brown on cream paper. The centre of the note is occupied by a large ornate guilloche vignette within a multilobed cartouche frame, with Ottoman Turkish text inscribed in Arabic script above and below. Denomination value '5' appears in each of the four corners within small squared cartouches, alternating between Arabic-numeral '5 PIASTRES' and Eastern Arabic '٥ غروش'. Series and serial number are printed in Roman characters across the middle, flanked by a tughra seal, with two lines of smaller Arabic text running across the lower third of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | دیون عمومیه عثمانیه غروش 5 PIASTRES SERIE No |
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| Comments |
The Dette Publique Ottomane — the Ottoman Public Debt Administration — was a multinational creditor body established in 1881 to manage the empire's defaulted debt on behalf of European bondholders. That it was issuing paper currency by 1916 reflects how completely the financial machinery of the Ottoman state had collapsed under wartime pressure. The regular Treasury and the Imperial Ottoman Bank could not meet demand, and smaller-denomination notes like this one were pushed into circulation to address a chronic shortage of coin.
Wartime hoarding of silver and copper left the public with almost nothing for small transactions. This note filled that gap directly.