Catalog
100 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
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| Currency | First modern drachma (1832-1944) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The central vignette presents the Acropolis of Athens with the Parthenon upon the hill, framed symmetrically by tall Doric columns at either side and flanked at the outer margins by ornate torch-bearing pedestals. The bank title 'ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ' is inscribed in a panel at the top, while the denomination inscription 'ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΕΝΔΕΚΑΤΗ / ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΕΚΑΤΟΝ' appears centrally below the main vignette. |
| Reverse lettering | ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΕΝΔΕΚΑΤΗ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΕΚΑΤΟΝ |
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| 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.