Catalog
25 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1903 |
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| Value | 25 Drachmai |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Portrait of Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank of Greece, at left within an oval vignette; two allegorical female figures representing Trade and Agriculture occupy the central vignette; the Greek royal coat of arms appears at right. Intricate guilloche underprint frames the entire composition with fine lathe-work borders. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANQUE NATIONALE DE GRECE ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΟΓΔΟΗ AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO. NEW YORK |
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| Comments |
The National Bank of Greece turned to the American Bank Note Company for this series at a time when the country was still clawing its way out of the financial wreckage of the 1893 bankruptcy and the humiliating 1897 defeat against the Ottomans. Foreign printing was partly a credibility signal — ABNC's name on a note carried weight with a public that had strong reasons to distrust domestic institutions.
The 1897 war had lasted just thirty days and ended in a Greek military collapse, forcing an international financial commission to oversee Greek state revenues until 1906. Notes issued in this period circulated under that shadow.