1 Drachma - Constantine II Pattern

This piece belongs to a set of gold patterns produced in 1967 under the military junta that seized power in April of that year. The colonels moved quickly to legitimize the regime through ceremonial coinage bearing the image of Constantine II, even as the king's actual relationship with the junta was deteriorating — he would attempt a counter-coup and flee the country by December. The patterns were never approved for circulation, and the constitutional monarchy itself was abolished by referendum in 1974.