Greece's first domestic copper coinage was struck at the Paris Mint beginning in 1832, the young kingdom having only formally gained independence from Ottoman rule in 1830. The Bavarian regency governing on behalf of the adolescent King Otto contracted French minting facilities because Greece had no functioning mint of its own — a detail that underscores just how hastily the new state's institutions were being assembled.
The Paris Mint's privy marks appear on pieces from this run, a useful diagnostic for attributing individual examples within the 1832–1843 span.
Greece's first domestic copper coinage was struck at the Paris Mint beginning in 1832, the young kingdom having only formally gained independence from Ottoman rule in 1830. The Bavarian regency governing on behalf of the adolescent King Otto contracted French minting facilities because Greece had no functioning mint of its own — a detail that underscores just how hastily the new state's institutions were being assembled.
The Paris Mint's privy marks appear on pieces from this run, a useful diagnostic for attributing individual examples within the 1832–1843 span.