Catalog
20 000 Dracme
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | An intaglio-printed oval vignette at left contains a bust portrait after Michelangelo's David, set within an ornate scrollwork cartouche with shell motifs at top and bottom. The centre carries the bilingual issuer title in Italian and Greek — "CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA" and "ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ" — above the denomination expressed in italic script as "Ventimila DRACME" over a large guilloche underprint numeral "20000". A blank oval panel at right, mirroring the portrait cartouche, was intended for signature or seal, with the entire face executed in dark blue on a fine guilloche ground. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ BVONO PER Ventimila DRACME ΑΞΙΑ ΕΙΚΟΣΙ ΧΙΛΙΑΔΕΣ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ IL PRESENTE BVONO DEVE ESSERE ACCETTATO IN PAGAMENTO PER IL SVO VALORE NOMINALE 20000 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 Greek institution — it was an Italian military occupation authority, established in 1941 to manage currency in the Italian-occupied zones of Greece following the Axis invasion that April. Notes issued under this authority circulated alongside the existing Bank of Greece drachma but were backed by nothing more than occupation force.
The series was printed in Italy, and the inflated face value reflects conditions that would only worsen dramatically — Greek hyperinflation during the Axis occupation became one of the most severe monetary collapses in modern European history, with the drachma eventually requiring a 1944 redenomination at 50 billion old drachmai to one new.