Catalog
500 000 000 Drachmai
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
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| In circulation to | 1944 |
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| Obverse description | Black on light blue underprint; a vignette of the head of the Apollo of Olympia at left, with denomination numerals and two manuscript signatures to the right. The text block carries the issuing authority inscription and the payability clause dated 1 October 1944. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Blue-green; at centre a bas-relief vignette of two equestrian riders taken from the Parthenon frieze, rendered in a classical intaglio-style print. Denomination figures appear in panels at both sides of the central vignette, with the issuing authority name and series inscription arranged along the upper and lower margins. |
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| Comments |
By the time this note was authorized in late 1944, the Axis occupation had driven Greek inflation to a point where the drachma had essentially ceased to function as a store of value. The 500,000,000 drachmai denomination was not an anomaly — it was one of several emergency high-denomination issues rushed out as the occupying forces stripped the country of goods and forced the Bank of Greece to cover the deficit with printed currency. Monthly inflation at the peak exceeded several billion percent.
Aspioti-ELKA, the Athens-based printer, produced the note domestically under extraordinarily constrained wartime conditions. The series was rendered worthless within months by the November 1944 currency reform, which replaced the occupation drachma at a rate of 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma.