Issued by the military junta that had ruled Greece since the 1967 coup, this coin appeared in the final months of the regime. By mid-1973 the colonels had abolished the monarchy and declared a republic — a political maneuver that fooled no one and satisfied almost no one. The junta collapsed the following year after the Cyprus debacle, making this among the last coinage produced under a government that had printed its own legitimacy as aggressively as it minted aluminum.
Issued by the military junta that had ruled Greece since the 1967 coup, this coin appeared in the final months of the regime. By mid-1973 the colonels had abolished the monarchy and declared a republic — a political maneuver that fooled no one and satisfied almost no one. The junta collapsed the following year after the Cyprus debacle, making this among the last coinage produced under a government that had printed its own legitimacy as aggressively as it minted aluminum.