Catalog
1 000 000 Drachmai
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 000 000 Drachmai (1 000 000) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of the Antikythera Ephebe, an ancient Greek bronze sculpture of a youthful male figure rendered in classical style, set against a guilloche underprint. The denomination and issuing authority inscriptions appear within bordered panels, with fine lathe-work borders framing the composition. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΕΝ ΕΚΑΤΟΜΜΥΡΙΟΝ 1.000.000 ΣΟΥΝΙΟΝ - ΝΑΟΣ ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝΟΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΗ |
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| Comments |
Greece's wartime hyperinflation was among the worst the twentieth century produced. By October 1944, the drachma had collapsed so completely that a single gold sovereign was trading for approximately two billion paper drachmai. This one-million drachma note, printed by the Bank of Greece's own works in Athens, was already functionally worthless by the time it circulated — a denomination that would have been unthinkable five years earlier.
The print date of 30 April 1945 places production after liberation, during the chaotic monetary cleanup preceding the November 1944 reform issue, in which eleven billion old drachmai were exchanged for a single new one.