Historical Context: The 1877–78 War and Coin Shortage
The outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 plunged the Ottoman Empire – and its capital Istanbul – into financial turmoil. Wartime demands for metal (for arms and munitions) meant that minting of new coins stalled and existing coinage was hoarded or melted for the war effort. To finance the conflict, the government also reissued large volumes of paper currency known as kaime (Ottoman treasury notes), spurring inflation and public distrust in official money. By 1878, small-denomination coins (the para and kuruş) had all but vanished from daily circulation in Istanbul. This scarcity of small change quickly became a serious problem in everyday transactions. Basic purchases and particularly during religious holidays when charitable donations were expected for want of petty coins, and market prices became volatile as tradesmen struggled to make change. In short, the war and its fiscal strains created an acute shortage of official coins in the late 1870s, leaving Istanbul’s urban economy desperate for a stopgap solution.
(Savoca Numismatics and Steve Album Auctions)
Emergence of Private Tokens as Small Change
Amid this coin shortage, local initiative filled the void. Churches, merchants, and civic associations in Istanbul began issuing private tokens (often denominated in para) to serve as makeshift money. To meet their need for small change, certain individuals and institutions began producing their own tokens, sometimes using brass as a substitute material for minor coinage. These tokens were essentially unofficial small-change notes or coins produced for limited use. They were not part of the state’s currency system but functioned as a community-level remedy for the lack of low denominations. Typically made of base metal (brass or copper) or printed on cardboard/paper, and marked with the issuer’s name or stamp, the tokens circulated in specific circles (a church parish, a marketplace, a guild) rather than across the whole city. Crucially, they provided ordinary people with a practical means to carry out minor transactions – from buying bread to giving alms – at a time when imperial coins of low value were scarcely available. In effect, these private tokens became a parallel petty currency in Istanbul, born out of crisis and used out of necessity.
Issuers, Motivations, and Local Use of Tokens
Churches: Among the most active issuers of tokens were Armenian churches. Within the framework of the Ottoman millet system, Armenian ecclesiastical institutions enjoyed a level of communal autonomy and often took the initiative in addressing the daily economic challenges faced by their parishioners. By the late 19th century, due to the shortage of small denomination coins, it had become difficult to collect traditional offerings during liturgical services, prompting many churches to issue their own tokens to facilitate charitable giving. In response, churches began producing their own tokens to distribute to worshippers as substitute for coins. For example, some Armenian parishes in Istanbul issued small para-denominated tokens, enabling parishioners to make offerings of “5, 10 or 20 para” during the collection at Mass, even amid the widespread shortage of small coinage. Officially, the rationale was to facilitate religious donations, but these church tokens soon found wider use. Parishioners would accept them as change and trade them within the community for daily needs. Thus, what began as a means to facilitate charitable offerings also evolved into a practical form of currency within local Armenian church communities. Churches had both the motivation and the trust of their communities to issue such tokens, which were typically honored within the parish and, in some cases, even circulated between neighboring communities under the guidance of the Church.
Merchants and Tradesmen: Private businesses and shopkeepers in Istanbul also turned to tokens as a solution. Lacking coins to give as change, some merchants printed paper chits or issued metal tokens redeemable for goods in their shops. For instance, a baker or grocer might hand a customer a token worth “5 para” in lieu of change, which the customer could use in a future purchase or which other locals would accept at face value. These tokens functioned as local credit notes or vouchers. By circulating among a loyal clientele or within a market district, they kept commerce moving without official coins. While specific examples from Istanbul’s bazaar merchants are less documented than the church cases, the phenomenon was widespread enough that it drew notice in contemporary reports. Guilds and trade associations likely coordinated some of these issues – effectively creating a closed-loop currency valid in certain shops or markets. The motivation for merchants was clear: rather than lose business or resort to barter, tokens allowed them to retain sales and ensure customers could buy even the smallest items. In a time of financial crisis, these tokens were a pragmatic improvisation that sustained day-to-day trade in the city.
Community Associations: Various other organizations – from charitable societies to local clubs – joined in issuing private tokens on a limited scale. Ethnic and community associations (such as Armenian, Greek, or Jewish communal institutions) sometimes printed their own small-denomination notes for internal use. For example, a community-run school or charity might pay its staff or suppliers in token notes that could be spent at cooperating local stores. Similarly, some neighborhood committees created tokens to pay workers for public works or distribute relief aid. These measures were typically intended for limited community circulation and were backed by the credibility of the issuing group. In essence, they acted as localized scrip: an ad-hoc currency that worked because of tight-knit trust networks. Such tokens rarely traveled far – an Armenian charity’s token, for instance, would be recognized among the Armenian community of a particular quarter, but not beyond. Nonetheless, within their sphere, they provided a vital economic bandaid. All these issuers – religious, commercial, and communal – shared a common motive: to alleviate the cash crisis by creating a workable substitute for official money. The private tokens of 1877–1897 thus became a grassroots financial innovation, enabling Istanbul’s urban life to continue in spite of the imperial mint’s inability to supply small change.
Decline and Government Crackdown (1895–1897)
What began as an emergency measure in the 1870s could not remain unchecked indefinitely. As the Ottoman state regained fiscal stability in the 1890s, it grew determined to reassert its monopoly over currency. The proliferation of unofficial tokens – no matter how useful – was fundamentally an affront to state authority. Indeed, it was acknowledged even at the time that if the practice came to the Sultan’s attention, it would provoke his quite justified and legitimate fury. For many years the government had little choice but to turn a blind eye, given the dire need for small change. By the mid-1890s, however, the rationale for private tokens was weakening: the empire had introduced new coinage (and was preparing to circulate low-value nickel and bronze coins), and officials were keen to centralize monetary authority once again.
Around 1895, a concerted crackdown began. The Ottoman authorities quietly instructed that all token issuance in Istanbul cease, and they moved to suppress unofficial currency circulation. Police and inspectors likely pressured churches and merchants to redeem or withdraw their tokens from the market. In 1895–1897, several known token issuers in the city were compelled to stop operations under threat of legal penalties. By 1897, this clampdown had effectively snuffed out the private token system in Istanbul. The tokens were either redeemed for official money where possible or simply rendered worthless outside their defunct networks. The government’s goal was to eliminate competing currencies and restore public reliance on the imperial mint and the banknotes of the Ottoman Bank. In tandem with the crackdown, the state rolled out fresh supplies of official small coins, hoping to satisfy the very demand that tokens had been filling. The result was the swift discontinuation of private tokens in the capital. What had been a common expedient during the 1880s vanished almost overnight under firm state action. While in some distant provinces and villages such local token usage would quietly linger a bit longer, within Istanbul the era of private para tokens was effectively over by the late 1890s. The monetary order was recentralized in the hands of the Sultan’s government, ending this remarkable episode of unofficial currency.
At this point we have added 174 various tokens to the archive. Click here to see all.