Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
100 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Drachmai |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | At left, a portrait vignette of Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank of Greece, anchors the composition; the central field is occupied by allegorical female figures rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The national coat of arms appears at right, bearing the overprint 'ΝΕΟΝ' in Greek characters. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΕΝΔΕΚΑΤΗ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΕΚΑΤΟΝ |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
This note belongs to a peculiar episode in Greek fiscal history. In 1922, the government of Dimitrios Gounaris — facing acute revenue shortages worsened by the ongoing Asia Minor campaign — ordered all holders of existing banknotes to physically surrender them, whereupon each note was cut in half. The left half was returned as circulating currency at half its face value; the right half was compulsorily converted into a forced state loan. Greece effectively halved its circulating money supply overnight without printing a single new note.
Bradbury Wilkinson had printed the original series years earlier. The bisection scheme meant their work was literally scissored apart by the state.