Catalog
100 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The royal arms of Greece appear at the upper left within an engraved vignette. The denomination numeral 100 is printed in two oval cartouches flanking the central Greek text ΕΚΑΤΟΝ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ, with a large ΚΑΤΟΝ underprint across the centre of the note. The issuer's name ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ is inscribed at the top, with serial number and manuscript signatures of bank officials at the lower portion. |
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| Obverse lettering | ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΕΚΑΤΟΝ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ Πληρωτέαι επί τη εμφανίσει Εν Αθήναις, την Ο ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΗΣ Ο Βασ. Επίτροπος Ο Γεν. Ταμίας |
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The National Bank of Greece's 1852 issue predates the country's modern central banking apparatus by decades — the National Bank itself had only been established in 1841, and these early notes were issued under a privilege that gave it sole right of paper money emission while simultaneously functioning as a commercial lender. The dual role created chronic tensions between monetary prudence and political pressure that would dog the institution throughout the nineteenth century.
Pick 21 is among the earliest large-denomination Greek paper issues to survive in any number, though genuine examples remain genuinely rare. The printing was handled in Athens under difficult technical conditions — Greece had no established security printing industry at the time.