Money shot #4: We were millionaires once, and happy…
Mustapha Kemal Atatürk, 1,000,000 lira
One day two Augusts ago we were multi-millionaires in Turkey. Until we bought lunch and thus wiped out most of our holdings.
Turkey no longer uses the note pictured here. A few months after our kebab-buying spree the New Turkish Lira was introduced (to deal with the wheelbarrow gridlock problem around banks). The old lira traded at a rate of about 1,850,000 per euro at the time of our day-trip across the Gulf of Lesvos. The new currency is a good deal more manageable: 1 TRY = €0.5359.
Atatürk gives you the come-hither gaze on the obverse above. The back of the note shows the Atatürk Dam on the River Euphrates:
I need more of a warning before I am assaulted by the face of the love child Vincent Price and Christopher Plummer.
*shudder*
Comment by Jagosaurus — Wednesday 23 August 06 @ 14.38 MDT+2.00
This is the currency one should have in boxloads. When one’s child gets to that age when the need to go tactile with money kicks in, one pulls out a shoebox of Turkish lira, especially the Mustapha Kemal Ataturk bills. Solid way of developing one;s spending skills. How often does one see currency that looks back at you, throwing doubt into your plans of blowing some cash? I wish I had just such currency when I was a lad. I wouldn’t have sputtered my allowance and paper-delivery monies on comic books and those footballs that stay inflated for one day.
I’d be sitting on a ton of negotiable paper!
Comment by DarkoV — Wednesday 23 August 06 @ 15.06 MDT+2.00
Actually, Darko, ALL of the old lira notes had Atatürk on them. And your point is well-taken.
Jag, could I interest you in some eggnog?
Comment by sgazzetti — Wednesday 23 August 06 @ 15.57 MDT+2.00
Okay. That I can handle.
Comment by Jane — Wednesday 23 August 06 @ 22.08 MDT+2.00
I know this will hurt people’s sensitivities but Ataturk does indeed look evil on Turkish banknotes…
Comment by Loxias — Tuesday 29 August 06 @ 12.11 MDT+2.00