Greece faced a severe fiscal crisis in 1922 — a war with Turkey draining the treasury while the drachma collapsed. The government's solution was blunt: existing 500 Drachmai notes were recalled, physically bisected, and each half reissued as a 250 Drachmai note, effectively doubling the circulating supply without printing a single new sheet. One half was retained by the state as a forced loan.
The bisect was given official stamps to validate it as legal tender. ABNCO's original printing was never intended for this treatment, which makes surviving halves with clean, complete cuts and legible stamps considerably harder to find than the survival rate might suggest.
Greece faced a severe fiscal crisis in 1922 — a war with Turkey draining the treasury while the drachma collapsed. The government's solution was blunt: existing 500 Drachmai notes were recalled, physically bisected, and each half reissued as a 250 Drachmai note, effectively doubling the circulating supply without printing a single new sheet. One half was retained by the state as a forced loan.
The bisect was given official stamps to validate it as legal tender. ABNCO's original printing was never intended for this treatment, which makes surviving halves with clean, complete cuts and legible stamps considerably harder to find than the survival rate might suggest.