Catalog
5000 Dracme
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Value | 5000 Drachmai |
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| Obverse description | Vignette at left of a classical bust — identified as Michelangelo's David — set within an ornate oval frame with decorative guilloche borders. The central field carries the large italic denomination legend 'Cinquemila' over the numeral '5000', with bilingual inscriptions in Italian and Greek. An empty oval cartouche at right, likely intended for a stamp or overprint, is framed by matching decorative scrollwork. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA / ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ / BUONO PER / Cinquemila / DRACME / ΑΞΙΑ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΧΙΛΙΑΔΕΣ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ / 5000 |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was not a bank in any conventional sense — it was an Italian military finance instrument, created specifically to fund the occupation of Greece following the Axis invasion in April 1941. Notes issued under this authority were essentially occupation scrip, backed by nothing and designed to extract real goods and labor from the Greek economy in exchange for paper with no convertibility guarantee.
The 5000 Dracme was the highest denomination in the series, which made it a primary vehicle for the inflationary spiral that followed. Greece suffered one of the worst hyperinflations of the war — by late 1944, prices had increased by a factor of roughly 163 billion compared to 1940 levels. Occupation currency, including these issues, was a direct mechanical cause.
Printed in Italy, though the notes bore Greek denomination and language, the series was never integrated into the postwar monetary reconstruction.