Greece's finances were severely strained by the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, and by 1915 the country had largely suspended silver coinage for circulation. This piece was struck as an essai — a pattern trial — almost certainly in anticipation of a resumed coinage that never materialized, as Greece was about to fracture politically in the National Schism between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Venizelos over entry into the First World War.
KM#E33 is among the rarer Greek essai pieces of the period, a casualty of a mint program interrupted before it began.
Greece's finances were severely strained by the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, and by 1915 the country had largely suspended silver coinage for circulation. This piece was struck as an essai — a pattern trial — almost certainly in anticipation of a resumed coinage that never materialized, as Greece was about to fracture politically in the National Schism between King Constantine I and Prime Minister Venizelos over entry into the First World War.
KM#E33 is among the rarer Greek essai pieces of the period, a casualty of a mint program interrupted before it began.