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100 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#48 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 100 100 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΕΚΑΤΟΝ ΠΛΗΡΩΤΕΑΙ ΕΠΙ Τῌ ΕΜΦΑΝΙΣΕΙ. ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ Τῌ 15 ΙΟΥΛΙΟΥ 1900 (Translation: National Bank of Greece 100 100 One hundred drachmai Paid on appearance In Athens, 15 July 1900) |
| Reverse description | Central oval vignette of Athena in full classical attire, wearing a crested helmet and holding a spear upright, set within an elaborate guilloche border. Denomination numerals "100" appear at left and right within ornate rosette panels, with the bank title in French along the lower margin. The overall design is rendered in dark intaglio-style engraving on a lightly toned ground. |
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| Comments |
Bradbury Wilkinson printed this note during a period when Greece was still recovering from the 1897 war with the Ottoman Empire — a humiliating defeat that left the country under international financial supervision and forced the National Bank to operate under strict constraints imposed by the International Financial Control commission established in 1898. That the bank was still commissioning high-denomination notes from a prestigious London printer at the turn of the century signals an effort to project fiscal credibility it arguably did not yet possess.
The 100 Drachmai was a large sum for everyday Greeks in 1900. Notes of this value rarely left the hands of merchants and bankers, which accounts for the relatively low survival rate in any circulated grade.