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5000 Drachmai brown
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
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| Currency | Second modern drachma (1944-1953) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΧΙΛΙΑΔΕΣ Πληρωθεί επί τη εμφανίσει ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ ΤΗ 9 ΙΟΥΝΙΟΥ 1947 ΟΙ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΑΙ 5.000 |
| Reverse description | The reverse bears a classical mythological vignette drawn from ancient Greek epic tradition, in which the Nereid Thetis rides upon a hippocampus to deliver the divine armour forged by Hephaistos to her son Achilles at Troy. The composition is executed in the intaglio style characteristic of mid-twentieth-century Greek banknote engraving, with fine guilloche borders framing the scene. The denomination and issuer inscriptions are repeated in Greek lettering. |
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| Comments |
Greece in 1947 was a country in the middle of a civil war, with the communist-aligned Democratic Army fighting the internationally backed government in Athens. Banknote production had been thoroughly disrupted — hyperinflation during the Axis occupation had rendered earlier series worthless, requiring a full monetary reform in 1944 and then again adjustments in 1946. This note belongs to the post-reform stabilization effort, printed in London by De La Rue while domestic infrastructure remained unreliable.
The brown colorway distinguishes this from the earlier 5000 Drachmai issues of the occupation period, which carry an entirely different inflationary history. De La Rue's intaglio work on Greek commissions of this period is consistently fine, though the political instability meant distribution was uneven across regions still contested by guerrilla forces.