Catalog
5 Drachmai - Constantine II Pattern Strike
| Issuer | Greece |
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| Year | 1967 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed effigy of King Constantine II facing left, rendered in fine relief with carefully detailed hair. The engraver's signature B. ΦΑΛΗΡΕΑΣ (V. Phalireas) appears in small lettering below the truncation. The circular legend reads ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ, meaning 'Constantine King of the Greeks', and the date 1966 is inscribed in the lower field flanked by decorative dots. |
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| Reverse description | Crowned coat of arms of the Kingdom of Greece at centre, depicting a shield bearing a cross, supported by two figures representing defenders of the Crown. The denomination appears below the arms. The circular legend around the periphery reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ, meaning 'Kingdom of Greece', with the denomination 5 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ flanked by decorative dots. |
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| Additional information |
This pattern was struck in 1967, the same year a military junta seized power in Greece and suspended the constitution. The colonels' regime overhauled the coinage program almost immediately, and numerous pattern strikes from this transitional period were produced but never approved for circulation — casualties of political instability rather than any technical deficiency.
KM#Pn87 is one of several silver pattern denominations cataloged from this window. Constantine II was formally deposed in absentia following a failed counter-coup in December 1967, which makes patterns struck in his name during that year particularly short-lived in their official relevance.