1 Drachma

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.