Catalog
5 Drachmai - Paul I
| Issuer | Kingdom of Greece |
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| Year | 1954-1965 |
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| Currency | Third modern drachma (1954-2001) |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed left-facing effigy of King Paul I of Greece occupies the central field, rendered in high relief with fine portrait detail. The engraver's signature B. ΦΑΛΗΡΕΑΣ (V. Falireas) appears in small characters at the truncation of the neck. The circular legend ΠΑΥΛΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ runs along the upper periphery in Greek script. The date, flanked by raised dots, is inscribed at the bottom of the field reading ·1954·. A raised inner border separates the legend from the coin's milled rim. |
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| Obverse lettering | ΠΑΥΛΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ·1954· Β. ΦΑΛΗΡΕΑΣ (Translation: Paul King of the Greeks V. Falireas) |
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| Additional information |
Greece entered this coinage period still recovering from successive catastrophes — the Axis occupation of 1941–44, a famine that killed an estimated 100,000 in Athens alone during the first winter, and a civil war that dragged on until 1949. The drachma itself had been redenominated in 1954 at a rate of 1,000 old drachmai to one new, making this among the first issues of the stabilized currency.
Paul I reigned from 1947 until his death in 1964, meaning the final year of this type's production outlasted him by one year under his successor Constantine II.