Catalog
5 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1897 |
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| Reference(s) | P#42 |
| Obverse description | Black intaglio print over indigo and orange underprint. The central vignette presents a portrait of Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank of Greece, with the national coat of arms positioned at lower left and the issue date at right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Navy blue intaglio over yellow underprint. The central vignette bears a classical representation of Athena, flanked on either side by guilloche panels carrying the denomination value. |
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| Comments |
The National Bank of Greece turned to Bradbury Wilkinson repeatedly across the late nineteenth century, and this 1897 issue emerged from a particularly strained period for Greek public finances. Greece had just fought and lost the Thirty Days' War against the Ottoman Empire in April–May of that year, a humiliating defeat that left the country under an International Financial Control commission imposed by the Great Powers to manage its debt obligations — debt that had been accumulating since the 1893 default.
Under those conditions, even small-denomination notes carried genuine monetary weight. The 5 Drachmai denomination circulated hard.