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25 000 Drachmai Agricultural Treasury Bond, second issue
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
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| Currency | First modern drachma (1832-1944) |
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| Obverse description | Green-tinted treasury bond note with an ornate guilloche border framing the entire face. The header carries the bank title in bold Greek capitals, below which the denomination '25000 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ' is set within a central guilloche rosette, flanked on both sides by the series designation 'ΣΕΙΡΑ Β!'. The lower portion contains several lines of Greek text detailing the bond's terms and redemption conditions, with two manuscript signatures above the date 'ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ ΤΗ 3 ΜΑΡΤΙΟΥ 1943' and a serial number in red. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in olive-green and cream tones, with a large central cartouche enclosing the bold numeral '25.000' in an ornate letterpress style. An intricate guilloche underprint fills the entire field, and the repeating legend 'ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ' runs in continuous bands along all four margins. Four decorative rosette vignettes occupy the corners of the inner border. |
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| Comments |
Greece's wartime occupation governments issued Treasury bonds as a mechanism to extract purchasing power from the economy under Axis administration. By 1943, hyperinflation was already accelerating at a rate that made conventional banknote printing inadequate — the drachma was collapsing in real time, and denominations were scaling faster than presses could be retooled.
Agricultural Treasury Bonds occupied an unusual hybrid position: technically debt instruments, practically currency. The "second issue" designation distinguishes this series from the earlier 1942 agricultural bond program, reflecting how quickly successive emergency measures were exhausted.
Pick 139 is among the higher denominations of this short-lived instrument class, which became worthless within months as inflation rendered even five-figure sums trivial.