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100 Drachmai

Issuer National Bank of Greece
Year 1917-1918
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Value 100 Drachmai
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Obverse description Portrait vignette of Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank of Greece, at left; the denomination numeral is centred within guilloche underprint work; the national coat of arms appears at right. Inscriptions in Greek identify the issuing institution and denomination.
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Reverse description Central vignette presents a view of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis in Athens, rendered in intaglio against a finely engraved guilloche background; denomination numerals are printed at both left and right margins within ornamental cartouches.
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Greece's acute wartime financing crisis of 1917–1918 forced the National Bank to look abroad for banknote production, a politically uncomfortable arrangement given the country's fraught relationship with Allied pressure during the National Schism — the period of violent division between Venizelists and royalists that nearly tore the state apart. American Bank Note Company in New York had the capacity and security standards the domestic infrastructure simply could not offer.

The series is known for occasional inking inconsistencies in the serial number impressions, likely attributable to transatlantic shipping delays disrupting production schedules rather than any defect in ABNCo's press work itself.