5 Para Countermarked ΒΙΘ on Egypt KM-223

Following Greece's catastrophic defeat in the Greco-Turkish War and the forced population exchange of 1923, the new Hellenic administration faced acute small-change shortages in territories where Ottoman and Egyptian coinage still circulated. Rather than mint new issues, Greek authorities countermarked existing foreign copper — Egyptian 1-mil pieces among them — with provincial or administrative stamps to authorize continued use. The ΒΙΘ mark has been attributed to administrative district validation, though the precise issuing authority behind this specific countermark remains disputed among specialists.