Catalog
100 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Portrait vignette of Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank of Greece, at left, with the national coat of arms at centre. The design is framed with fine guilloche ornamental borders typical of the period, with denomination numerals and Greek-language legends surrounding the central motifs. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 100 100 FRANCS FRANCS BANQUE NATIONALE de GRÈCE (Translation: 100 100 Francs Francs National Bank of Greece) |
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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.