Catalog
10 Drachmai
| Issuer | Kingdom of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse lettering | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 10 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΔΕΚΑ ΠΛΗΡΩΤΕΑΙ ΕΠΙ ΤΗ ΕΜΦΑΝΙΣΕΙ ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ ΤΗ 9η ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ 1944 Ο ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΩΝ (Translation: Kingdom of Greece 10 Ten drachmai Paid on appearance In Athens, the 9th of November 1944 The Minister of Finance (signature)) |
| Reverse description | Brown print on olive green underprint. The central vignette presents a view of a traditional church on Sifnos, an island of the Cyclades, with the denomination and island name inscribed around the design. The overall composition is framed with simple border elements consistent with the wartime emergency issue style. |
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Greece in 1944 was under joint Axis occupation, and what remained of the country's monetary administration was operating under conditions of catastrophic hyperinflation. By October of that year, the drachma had depreciated so severely that the occupying authorities and the collaborationist government had flooded the economy with successive high-denomination issues just to keep transactions functional. A 10-drachmai note by this point had essentially no purchasing power.
Upon liberation, the incoming Greek government issued the Emergency Law of November 1944, redenominating at 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma. Notes of this series were rendered worthless overnight.