The City of Countless Names- The Currency of Constantinople

Despite, Constantinople’s place as the key trading center between Asia and Europe, the Ottoman economy is in decline. Mismanaged funds, lost wars, ambitious modernization, and corruption bring its finances closer to ruin every day. The Sultan may wear silk, but the soldiers of his army have been waiting months for their wages.  In one sad case, when a general complained on behalf of his men, the Sultan’s accountants discovered the soldier’s wages had been sent, but someone intercepted the money and forged the general’s signature on the receipt!

The recent reforms, trade with foreign countries, and industrialization breath new life into the Empire’s economy. The most prestigious firms of Europe opened up branches in Constantinople, and their representatives scour the city for new ways to increase their profits. Similarly, England is more than just an ally against Russia to the Ottoman Empire, it’s an investor. In 1852 alone, the Ottomans brought 8.5 million pounds of British exports, and England reciprocated, importing raisins, wheat, silk, olive oil, coffee, wool etc. In this same spirit of financial partnership, the British Empire funds the Ottoman war effort through massive loans.

At the outbreak of the war, England and France loaned £3,000,000 to the Ottoman Empire. Now, the Loan Commission, representing the French and English governments, prepares for another, bigger loan of £5,000,000. While the commission works to coordinate the distribution and spending of the loan, its commissioners worry the Pashas are just going to embezzle it all. Rumors spread of Ottoman officials already spending into debt in anticipation of getting their share of the war loan. 

In 1844, Sultan Abdulmejid reorganized the empire’s currency. Influenced by the monetary system of France, he introduced the Turkish Lira, and a system of silver of silver and gold coins, making older coins officially obsolete. Unofficially, because the old currency and the new currency both use the same smaller denominations and everyone still has the old coins, merchants happily accept all coins.  The most common coin is the Para, followed by the Piastre. Each Piastre is worth 40 Paras. Para coins are made of copper, Piastre and Beshliks are made of silver, and the Ghazi, Turkish Lira, and Kiseh are gold.

Currency of Constantinople

Paras                     Piastre                  Higher Monetary Forms                British Conversion (Rounded)

1 Para                     -                               -                                                               -

5 Paras                   -                               -                                                               ¼ d

10 Paras                ¼ Piastre               -                                                               ½ d

20 Paras                ½ Piastre              -                                                               1d          

40 Paras                1 Piastre                -                                                               2d

-                               2 Piastres              -                                                               4d

100 Paras              2 ½ Piastres         -                                                               5d

-                               3 Piastres              -                                                               6d

-                               5 Piastres              1 Beshlik                                               1s 

-                               10 Piastres            -                                                               2s 

-                               25 Piastres            1 Ghazi (5 Beshlik)                             4s 4d

-                               100 Piastres         1 Turkish Lira (5 Ghazi)                    18s

-                               500 Piastres         1 Kiseh (5 Turkish Lira)                    £4 5s

British Currency              Equivalent in Turkish Currency (Rounded)

£1                                           109 Piastres

1s                                            5 Piastres

1d                                           20 paras

While most businesses in Pera or Galata accept the French franc, travelers should exchange their money for the local currency if they go anywhere in Constantinople. Sarafs (or money changers) can be found anywhere in the city, usually working from a tobacco shop. They charge 1d to 5d out of every pound they exchange. Sarafs are often Greeks, Armenians, or Jews, but never Turks due to their religious convictions.

Merchants in Constantinople take gold coins from any European country as payment without trouble. The most common gold coins exchanged are the English Sovereign (worth 110 piastres), the French 10 franc (worth 48 piastres) and 20 franc (worth 96 piastres) coins, and the Austrian Ducat (worth 54 piastres).

Because this week’s post is short and simple, I want to take a moment and explain some of my plans for this series of posts. When I’m done, I want to put all of them together, edited and expanded, into one PDF. This PDF covers all the nuts and bolts of Constantinople for players. Then I’ll write another series of posts about the three distinct cities of Constantinople, their districts, and suburbs. This again will be edited and expanded into a PDF for Gamemasters. After that, I will be putting together one last PDF of all the adventure ideas, conspiracies, and monsters I’ve been saving up during the series.
My intention is to make a City book for anyone who wants to run Victoriana in Constantinople, much like the terrific supplement for London, “The Smoke”.
It’s going to take a while, but I’ve got most of the research done at their point (enough to know the structure of the PDFs anyway) and it should be a  pretty great addition to the Resources page.