2 Drachmai Ionian Bank Limited

The Ionian Bank was a British-chartered institution operating primarily in the Ionian Islands and, after 1864, across Greece following the islands' cession to the Greek state. Its right to issue notes in Greece was a commercial concession that put it in direct competition — and frequent friction — with the National Bank of Greece, which held the state monopoly by preference if not always by law. Bradbury Wilkinson produced the series from their New Malden works, a firm whose intaglio work dominated British colonial and foreign bank note contracts throughout the second half of the nineteenth century.

The 2 Drachmai denomination is the smallest in the Ionian Bank's 1885 series, and small-denomination notes of this period typically suffered disproportionate wear and loss.