500 Grosia

The Provisional Administration of Greece issued this note during the Greek War of Independence, when the insurgent government had almost no financial infrastructure and desperately needed to fund military operations against Ottoman forces. The 1822 emission was among the earliest paper money ever issued in Greek history — the new administration was barely a year old, having declared independence in January 1822 at Epidaurus.

Authenticity and survival are both fraught questions with this series. Documents from the period were poorly stored, frequently handled by multiple hands in chaotic field conditions, and the provisional government itself collapsed and reformed several times before a stable Greek state emerged. Attribution between genuine contemporary issues and later reproductions requires careful paper analysis.