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10 000 000 Drachmai
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | First modern drachma (1832-1944) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Uniformly brown reverse centred on a large circular guilloche rosette underprint, over which the bold letterpress numeral '10' and the word ΕΚΑΤΟΜΜΥΡΙΑ are printed. Ornate dark brown vignette panels with floral and scrollwork motifs occupy the left and right thirds of the design, echoing the obverse border treatment. The issuer name appears in a decorative panel at the top and the edition inscription ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΗ is lettered in a small cartouche at the foot of the note. |
| Reverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 10 ΕΚΑΤΟΜΜΥΡΙΑ ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΗ (Translation: Bank of Greece 10 000 000 Drachmai First issue) |
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| Comments |
This note belongs to the terminal phase of the Axis occupation hyperinflation, one of the most severe currency collapses in modern European history. By late 1944, Greek prices were doubling every few days, and the Bank of Greece was printing increasingly astronomical denominations just to keep pace with daily transactions. The 10,000,000 drachmai note was not an outlier — it was a practical necessity.
Printed domestically under occupation conditions, the Athens works were operating under severe material constraints. The series culminated shortly before liberation in October 1944, after which the new Allied-backed currency authority replaced the entire drachmai series at a rate of 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma.