Catalog
1 Drachme - Otto
| Issuer | Kingdom of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1832-1847 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Drachma |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed, draped bust of young King Othon facing right, rendered in a refined neoclassical style, with naturalistically engraved curling hair. The engraver's name VOIGT appears incuse on the truncation. The circular Greek legend reads ΟΘΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ (Othon, King of Greece), running along the toothed border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ΟΘΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ (Translation: OTHON KING OF GREECE) |
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| Additional information |
Otto of Wittelsbach arrived in Greece in 1833 as a seventeen-year-old Bavarian prince installed by the protecting powers — Britain, France, and Russia — to rule a country that had barely finished fighting for its independence. His early coinage was designed and partially struck in Munich before Greek minting infrastructure existed at all. The Phoenix monetary system that preceded Otto's drachma had already collapsed, leaving the new kingdom with no functioning domestic currency.
The Aegina mint opened in 1833 but proved chronically under-equipped, and much of the output for this series was contracted to Munich and Paris.