Catalog
10 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1892-1900 |
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| Currency | First modern drachma (1832-1944) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A classical allegorical male figure, identified as Mercury, stands at left in a draped robe. The royal arms of Greece appear at centre within an ornate guilloche vignette flanked by numeral 10 counters, while a male portrait in profile is set within an oval frame at right. The legend ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ arcs across the upper field, with the denomination ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΔΕΚΑ inscribed below the central arms, and a date line with serial numbers printed in red beneath. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANQUE NATIONALE DE GRECE 10 FRANCS (Translation: NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE 10 FRANCS) |
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| Comments |
The Österreichische Staatsdruckerei in Vienna printed for numerous foreign governments throughout the late nineteenth century, and this series is one of the less-studied examples of that relationship. Greece's reliance on Austrian state printing facilities during this period reflected both the underdevelopment of domestic printing infrastructure and the financial pressures following Greece's involvement in the 1897 Greco-Turkish War, which ended in a humiliating armistice and forced the country into international financial supervision under the International Financial Control commission established in 1898.
The eight-year issue window — 1892 to 1900 — spans that crisis almost exactly, which gives the later-dated examples particular historical weight.