Catalog
500 Mils Refugee - Silver proof issue
| Issuer | Central Bank of Cyprus |
|---|---|
| Year | 1976 |
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| Value | 500 Mils (0.5) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek, Latin |
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| Reverse description | A deeply expressive commemorative composition in low relief depicts a mother and child as displaced refugees against a raised shield-shaped panel. The mother, shown from the waist up with flowing hair, gazes solemnly into the distance, her arm sheltering a young child at her side. In the right background, the ruins of a destroyed building are visible, evoking the humanitarian tragedy of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. To the right of the figures the denomination 500 is inscribed in large numerals, beneath which the bilingual legend ΘΕΡΟΣ / SUMMER and the commemorative date 1974 appear in Greek and English. |
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| Additional information |
Issued two years after the Turkish military intervention of July 1974, which displaced roughly 200,000 Greek Cypriots from the northern third of the island, this proof was struck explicitly to raise international funds for the refugee crisis. The Central Bank positioned it as a humanitarian appeal in coin form — an unusual mandate for a monetary authority — sold primarily to collectors abroad rather than circulated domestically.
The .925 silver proof version, KM#45a, was struck alongside a base-metal circulation issue, a pairing that underscores the dual purpose: one coin for awareness, one for revenue.