Catalog
5000 Drachmai pink, large type
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
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| Reference(s) | P#173 |
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| Obverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΧΙΛΙΑΔΕΣ 5,000 Πληρώται επί τη εμφανίσει ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ Ο ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΗΣ Ο ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΗΣ |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a classical mythological vignette of the Nereid Thetis riding a hippocampus, bearing the divinely forged shield of Achilles across the sea to Troy, rendered in an engraved neoclassical style. The composition is set within a decorative panel against a pink guilloche background, with the denomination numeral 5,000 repeated at lower right. Ornate floral and geometric border elements frame the design on all sides. |
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| Comments |
This note belongs to the immediate postwar reissue of the wartime 5000 Drachmai series, printed as Greece attempted to restore monetary order following the catastrophic Axis occupation inflation — a period during which the drachma had effectively ceased to function as a store of value. The "large type" designation distinguishes this from the visually similar P#172, the difference being a typographic modification to the denomination text rather than any change in the underlying plate design.
The broader 1944–1946 stabilization effort ultimately failed. A new currency reform in November 1944 had already replaced these notes at a rate of 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma, making surviving examples of this series more a record of hyperinflationary collapse than functional tender.