Catalog
5000 Drachmai unissued
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1926 |
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| Currency | First modern drachma (1832-1944) |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a portrait of Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank of Greece, rendered in intaglio. A frieze vignette runs along the upper register, reproducing a section of the Panathenaic procession relief from the south side of the Parthenon, Athens. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central vignette drawn from an ancient Greek frieze, presenting a quadriga — a chariot drawn by four horses — executed in intaglio. Denomination numerals appear in panels at both the left and right sides of the design. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Greece was established by statute in late 1927, which makes a 1926-dated note bearing its name a peculiarity worth examining. The issue was prepared in anticipation of the bank's founding — a common enough practice when central bank legislation was already drafted and printing lead times had to be accounted for — but the notes were never released into circulation.
ABNC produced the plates in New York. Unissued remainders from this preparation survive in collector hands, distinguishable from any hypothetical circulated examples by the absence of serial numbers and signatures on most known specimens.