During latter years of Ottoman Empire there was a shortage of small currencies and as a result charities, schools, private companies, Greek and Armenian churches, synagogues, and mosques were permitted to issue their own "paper tokens" for internal use only.

Several different types have been identified. The note shown above was issued by the company "Şirket-i Hayriye" or as written in French on the token "Chirket-i Hairié". This company is known today as Istanbul Sea Bus Company, İstanbul Deniz Otobüsleri İşletmesi.

We gratefully acknowledge Ottoman Empire Coins & Banknotes for providing the above information.

AB We gratefully acknowledge A. Basso for submitting these images.

Images of many early Ottoman Empire banknotes are needed. Please
write if you would like to assist in building this reference section