Catalog
2 Drachmai - Paul I
| Issuer | Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1954-1965 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Reverse description | Central shield bearing a cross, supported on either side by two armed defenders of the Crown, the whole surmounted by a royal crown. The circular legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ, meaning 'Kingdom of Greece,' runs along the upper periphery. The denomination 2 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ is inscribed in the lower field beneath the crowned arms. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Greece returned to cupronickel coinage in the early 1950s after a decade of catastrophic monetary instability — wartime occupation had so thoroughly destroyed the drachma that the postwar government issued a new drachma in 1954 at a rate of 1,000 old drachmai to one new. This coin belongs to that restarted currency, Paul I having ascended the throne in 1947 amid civil war between the royalist government and communist insurgents.
The series ran through 1965, one year before Paul's son Constantine II would preside over the coup that brought the military junta to power.