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1000 Drachmai
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | First modern drachma (1832-1944) |
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| Obverse description | At left, an engraved vignette of Alexander the Great in profile. To the right, the denomination and authorising signatures appear alongside the issuing bank's title, with the date of 1 October 1941 referenced in the text. The face bears Greek-language inscriptions throughout, including the promise-to-pay clause. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Variants | P#117a - Title of picture on back without light background P#117b(1) - Title of picture on back on light background Block letters right of serial # P#117b(2) - Title of picture on back on light background Block letters left of serial # |
| Comments |
Greece's occupation-era currency collapsed under hyperinflation so severe that by late 1944 a single gold sovereign cost billions of drachmai. This note, though dated 1941, was printed in April 1945 — well after liberation — specifically because the immediate postwar monetary system had not yet stabilized and wartime denominations were still being pressed into service while a proper reform was negotiated.
The 1944 currency reform eventually replaced these at a rate of 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma, one of the most extreme redenominations of the twentieth century.