Catalog
10 Dracme
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Currency | First modern drachma (1832-1944) |
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| Obverse lettering | CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ BVONO PER DIECI DRACME 10 ΑΞΙΑ ΔΕΚΑ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ IL PRESENTE BVONO DEVE ESSERE ACCETTATO IN PAGAMENTO PER IL SVO VALORE NOMINALE ΤΟ ΠΑΡΟΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΟΝ ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΔΕΧΘΗ ΕΙΣ ΠΛΗΡΟΜΗΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΟΝΟΜΑΣΤΙΚΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΞΙΑΝ (Translation: MEDITERRANEAN CREDIT FUND OF GREECE GOOD FOR TEN DRACHMAI 10 THIS VOUCHER MUST BE ACCEPTED IN PAYMENT FOR ITS NOMINAL VALUE) |
| Reverse description | At left, an intaglio vignette of an ancient Greek warship's bow (aphlaston), rendered in fine engraving with a prominent carved volute at the prow and oar-banks visible below. The right portion carries the bilingual issuer title in Italian and Greek, with a central guilloche rosette enclosing the large numeral "10" and the denomination in both languages flanking it. A serial number is printed in two parts at the lower margin, and the overall design is executed in red on cream paper within a Greek-key meander border. |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was a purpose-built Italian occupation institution, established in 1941 to manage currency in Greece following the Axis invasion. It issued notes denominated in drachmai but backed by nothing — the occupying forces used them to extract Greek goods and labor at will, contributing directly to the hyperinflationary spiral that by 1944 had rendered all such notes worthless. This was deliberate monetary extraction, not banking.
The Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato printed the entire series in Rome, which means surviving examples crossed the Adriatic before ever entering circulation in Athens.