Catalog
500 Drachmai cut note
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1926 |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a large intaglio vignette of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, rendered with fine landscape detail including trees and sky. To the right, an ornate decorative panel incorporates a Corinthian capital column motif with the denomination '500' appearing twice in guilloche frames at upper right and lower right. The bank title ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ runs along the upper border, and the imprint AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY appears at the bottom centre. |
| Reverse lettering | ΕΘΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΕΝΑΤΗ AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY |
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| Comments |
This note belongs to a transitional period in Greek monetary administration — the National Bank of Greece was still acting as the country's central issuing authority in 1926, a role it would formally lose two years later when the Bank of Greece was established under the terms of the 1927 Geneva Protocol and League of Nations supervision.
The "cut note" designation refers to a bisect practice used to address acute small-denomination shortages: authorized cuts of higher-value notes were officially validated for use at fractional face value. The American Bank Note Company's intaglio work on this series is among the finer printing contracted by Greek authorities in the interwar period.