Catalog
100 Dracme
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Value | 100 Drachmai |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Orange and brown bicolour note with a guilloche underprint at centre. At right, an intaglio vignette of a classical female bust in three-quarter profile, rendered in dark brown. The denomination numeral '100' appears in each corner and at centre, flanked by bilingual inscriptions in Italian and Greek. A fine ornamental border frames the entire face. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ BUONO PER CENTO DRACME ΑΞΙΑ ΕΚΑΤΟΝ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ 100 IL PRESENTE BUONO DEVE ESSERE ACCETTATO IN PAGAMENTO PER IL SUO VALORE NOMINALE ΤΟ ΠΑΡΟΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΟΝ ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΔΕΧΘΗ ΕΙΣ ΠΛΗΡΩΜΗΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΟΝΟΜΑΣΤΙΚΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΞΙΑΝ |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was not a bank in any conventional sense — it was an Italian military finance instrument, established by Mussolini's occupation administration following the Axis invasion of April 1941. Notes like this one were issued to pay Italian troops and purchase Greek goods at controlled rates, a mechanism that systematically drained the Greek economy and contributed directly to the catastrophic hyperinflation and famine of 1941–42.
The series was printed at the Istituto Poligrafico in Rome before being shipped to occupied territory — Greek civilians were compelled to accept them at par with the drachma despite having no reserves behind them.