Catalog
10 Drachmai Italian occupation
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Drachmai (10 δρᾰχμαί) |
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| Obverse description | Left vignette shows an intaglio-printed bust of Alexander the Great in classical sculptural style, set within a fine guilloche border. To the right, bilingual inscriptions in Italian and Greek read BIGLIETTO A CORSO LEGALE / PER LE ISOLE JONIE and ΧΑΡΤΟΝΟΜΙΣΜΑ ΕΧΟΝ ΝΟΜΙΜΟΝ ΚΥΚΛΟΦΟΡΙΑΝ / ΕΝ ΤΑΙΣ ΙΟΝΙΟΙΣ ΝΗΣΟΙΣ, with the denomination 10 expressed as DRACME and ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ flanking the numeral. A signature line for IL TESORIERE appears at the lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BIGLIETTO A CORSO LEGALE PER LE ISOLE JONIE ΧΑΡΤΟΝΟΜΙΣΜΑ ΕΧΟΝ ΝΟΜΙΜΟΝ ΚΥΚΛΟΦΟΡΙΑΝ ΕΝ ΤΑΙΣ ΙΟΝΙΟΙΣ ΝΗΣΟΙΣ DRACME 10 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ IL TESORIERE |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was not a bank in any meaningful sense — it was an Italian military finance instrument, established in 1941 specifically to extract resources from occupied Greece by issuing a parallel currency that had no backing and no external convertibility. The occupying authorities used it to purchase goods and services while the drachma simultaneously collapsed under the weight of requisitioning and supply disruption. Greek hyperinflation between 1941 and 1944 became one of the worst in recorded history.
The low denomination saw heavy use and survivors in anything better than heavily circulated condition are uncommon.