Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Drachmai 1932 Punch Holes 1941
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Size | 185 × 85 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Intaglio vignette drawn from the celebrated Mycenaean gold cups discovered at Vaphio (c. 1450–1500 BC), illustrating scenes of bull-catching: a bull breaking free from its captors, a bull ensnared in a net, and a bull in full gallop. The denomination numerals appear at left and right within guilloche panels, with the issuer title and printer's imprint completing the design. |
| Reverse lettering | 500 ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 500 ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΗ AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY (Translation: BANK OF GREECE 500 FIRST ISSUE AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY) |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
This is the 1932-dated 500 Drachmai note, reissued under Axis occupation conditions by the simple expedient of punch-cancellation — three holes driven through the note to withdraw it from legal tender status while simultaneously permitting controlled reuse during the currency chaos of 1941. The practice was an administrative stopgap, not a planned reissue program.
The American Bank Note Company had printed the original series well before the occupation. By 1941, fresh supply from New York was impossible, so existing stocks were mutilated and redistributed rather than destroyed.