Catalog
500 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921-1922 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 195 × 100 mm |
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| Obverse description | At left, a portrait vignette of Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank of Greece; at centre, an allegorical female figure rendered in intaglio; at right, the national coat of arms overprinted with the Greek legend ΝΕΟΝ. The composition is framed with ornate guilloche borderwork typical of American Bank Note Company engraving. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A standing figure of Athena occupies the left field, flanked at centre by a vignette of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, with a figure of Poseidon at right. Doric columns are integrated throughout the design as architectural framing elements, rendered in fine intaglio engraving. |
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| Comments |
Greece was in the middle of the Greco-Turkish War when this note entered circulation, and the financial strain showed. The National Bank of Greece turned to the American Bank Note Company at a moment when domestic printing capacity could not keep pace with wartime monetary demand — a pattern repeated across several Greek issues of this period.
Axelos designed the plate, an unusual credit for a Greek national to appear on an ABNC commission. Worth noting: the 1922 date range on this type overlaps directly with the Asia Minor catastrophe, after which Greece absorbed over a million refugees and inflation pressures made high-denomination notes like this one move quickly through commerce.