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2 Drachmai
| Issuer | National Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1885 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Drachmai |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Black on orange and light blue underprint. At left, a vignette portrait of Alexander the Great; at centre, the denomination and the legal text authorizing the note's issuance; at right, a helmeted portrait of Athena rendered in intaglio style. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Η ΠΑΡΑΠΟΙΗΣΙΣ ΤΙΜΩΡΕΙΤΑΙ ΚΑΛΗ ΕΝ ΕΠΙΤΗΣ ΠΛΑΣΤΟΤΗΤΟΣ ΚΥΚΛΟΦΟΡΙΑ ΜΟΛΥΝΕΙ ΤΟΝ ΝΟΜΟΝ |
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| Comments |
The National Bank of Greece turned to Bradbury Wilkinson for much of its nineteenth-century note production, and this 2 Drachmai is among the smaller-denomination issues from that relationship. At 80 × 50 mm, it is one of the more diminutive pieces the printer produced for any issuer — Bradbury Wilkinson's output for European central banks typically ran considerably larger.
Greece's currency situation in 1885 was fragile. The drachma had been pegged to the Latin Monetary Union franc since 1868, but chronic fiscal deficits and the costs of post-independence nation-building repeatedly strained convertibility. Forced currency — inconvertible paper — had already been imposed once and would be again within a few years of this note's issue.