Catalog
5000 Drachmai purple, small type
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5000 Drachmai (5000 δρᾰχμαί) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse carries a mythological vignette of the Nereid Thetis astride a hippocampus, bearing the divine shield wrought by Hephaistos to her son Achilles at Troy, executed in an engraved classical style. The denomination and issuer inscriptions frame the central composition. |
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| Protection description | Head of Apollo |
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| Comments |
This note belongs to the immediate postwar reconstruction period, issued as Greece was deep in civil war between the government and communist-led forces. The Bank of Greece had been printing its own notes since the occupation years, when access to foreign security printers was severed, and that in-house production continued here. The designation "small type" distinguishes it from earlier high-denomination issues of similar face value — the hyperinflationary spiral of the occupation had forced successive reissues at identical denominations but with revised typography and layout to signal the new monetary regime.
The 1944 currency reform had slashed twelve zeros off the old drachma, so by 1947 a 5000-drachmai note represented real purchasing power again, at least nominally.