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1 Drachma
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, United Kingdom (1856-1990) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The Greek royal coat of arms as a central vignette, consisting of a shield bearing a white cross on blue flanked by two standing male figures beneath a crown, enclosed within a circular guilloche frame. Intricate lathe-work geometric patterns fill the entire field in blue, with the numeral 1 repeated at left and right within ornamental panels. The printer's imprint BRADBURY WILKINSON & COMPY LTD LONDON appears along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | BRADBURY WILKINSON & COMPY LTD LONDON |
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| Comments |
This note exists because Greece could not keep small-denomination coins in circulation. During the First World War, metal coinage — particularly copper and nickel — was being hoarded or melted, creating a crippling shortage of low-value exchange. The government's solution was to split existing 2 Drachmai notes in half, each half circulating as 1 Drachma. The P#301 issue followed as a proper replacement for that improvised arrangement.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the series in London, as they did for numerous Balkan and Mediterranean governments during this period who lacked domestic security printing capacity.