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1000 Dracme Italian occupation
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a classical portrait bust in three-quarter profile, enclosed within a meander guilloche border, with the denomination 1000 at lower left and upper right corners. To the right of the vignette, bilingual text in Italian and Greek reads the legal tender inscription for the Ionian Islands, with DRACME 1000 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ in bold letterpress below. The signature of IL TESORIERE appears at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central vignette of a classical bas-relief in intaglio, portraying two equestrian figures on horseback in dynamic motion, framed by an elaborate meander guilloche border with ornamental corner rosettes. The denomination 1000 appears in each corner of the note. The serial number panel is printed at the far right margin. |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was not a bank in any meaningful sense — it was an Italian military finance instrument, created specifically to manage currency in occupied Greece without formally integrating Greek monetary affairs into the Italian system. This note was part of a parallel currency regime imposed alongside the existing Bank of Greece drachma, allowing occupation authorities to extract resources and pay troops without drawing on lira reserves.
The resulting inflation was catastrophic. By 1944, Greek hyperinflation had become one of the worst recorded in modern history, with the drachma collapsing to trillions per dollar. The Cassa Mediterranea notes contributed directly to that spiral.