Catalog
500 000 Drachmai Agricultural Treasury Bond, third issue
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The face of this wartime agricultural treasury bond is printed in blue-green on a light green underprint, with a guilloche border framing the entire design. The issuer's name ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ appears in a panel at the top centre, above the title ΤΑΜΕΙΑΚΟΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΟΝ, with the large numeral value 500.000 in bold numerals at centre flanked by the series designation ΣΕΙΡΑ Γ' on both sides. Two signature lines appear below the central text block, attributed to the Governor (Ο ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΗΣ) and the two Directors (ΟΙ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΑΙ), above a serial number and the date EN ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ ΤΗ 15ΗΣ Μαΐου 1943. |
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| Obverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΤΑΜΕΙΑΚΟΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΟΝ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΚΟΜΙΣΤΗΝ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΣΥΓΚΕΝΤΡΩΣΙΝ ΤΩΝ ΑΓΡΟΤΙΚΩΝ ΠΡΟΙΟΝΤΩΝ ΣΕΙΡΑ Γ' 500.000 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ Ο ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΗΣ ΟΙ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΑΙ ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ ΤΗ 15ΗΣ ΜΑΪΟΥ 1943 |
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| Comments |
Greece's wartime occupation governments issued Agricultural Treasury Bonds as a mechanism to absorb surplus currency and nominally direct funds toward agricultural recovery — in practice, a desperate attempt to manage runaway inflation caused by Axis requisitioning of Greek produce and resources. By mid-1943, the drachma was collapsing at a rate that made even large denominations functionally worthless within weeks of issue. The 500,000 drachmai face value that would have been extraordinary before the war was, by this point, ordinary transactional currency.
The "third issue" designation matters: the series escalated rapidly in denomination and frequency, each successive issue a direct marker of how quickly the monetary situation deteriorated between 1942 and 1944.