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50 Dracme Italian occupation
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#M3 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ BVONO PER CINQVANTA DRACME 50 ΑΞΙΑ ΠΕΝΗΝΤΑ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ IL PRESENTE BVONO DEVE ESSERE ACCETTATO IN PAGAMENTO PER IL SVO VALORE NOMINALE ΤΟ ΠΑΡΟΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΟΝ ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΔΕΧΘΗ ΕΙΣ ΠΛΗΡΟΜΗΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΟΝΟΜΑΣΤΙΚΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΞΙΑΝ (Translation: Mediterranean Credit Fund for Greece Good for 50 Dracme / Drachmai 50 This voucher must be accepted in payment for its nominal value) |
| Reverse description | A sheaf of wheat occupies the left portion of the design, while the centre carries the denomination and bilingual issuer text set within interlaced guilloche patterns. The overall composition is spare and typographic in character, consistent with the utilitarian nature of this occupation currency. |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was not a bank in any meaningful sense — it was an Italian military finance instrument, established by Mussolini's government in 1941 specifically to extract resources from occupied Greece without triggering the legal complications of using official lire. Notes issued under this authority circulated alongside a collapsing Greek economy already being stripped by Axis requisitioning, contributing directly to the hyperinflationary spiral that by 1944 had rendered all such occupation currency worthless.
Printed by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato — Italy's state printing works and mint — the production quality is noticeably higher than the economy it served.