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20 000 Dracme
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Reference(s) | P#M9 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse mirrors the typographic layout of the obverse without the portrait vignette, printed in a lighter blue-grey tone on a fine guilloche ground. The issuer title appears again in both Italian and Greek at the top, with the denomination "Ventimila DRACME" in italic script over the large guilloche underprint numeral "20000". Denomination panels reading "20000 DRACME" and "20000 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ" are placed in each of the four corners, and serial numbers are printed in red at left and right centre. |
| Reverse lettering | CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ BVONO PER Ventimila DRACME ΑΞΙΑ ΕΙΚΟΣΙ ΧΙΛΙΑΔΕΣ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ IL PRESENTE BVONO DEVE ESSERE ACCETTATO IN PAGAMENTO PER IL SVO VALORE NOMINALE 20000 ΤΟ ΠΑΡΟΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΟΝ ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΔΕΧΘΗ ΕΙΣ ΠΛΗΡΩΜΗΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΟΝΟΜΑΣΤΙΚΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΞΙΑΝ 20000 DRACME 20000 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was not a Greek institution — it was an Italian military occupation authority, established in 1941 to manage currency in the Italian-occupied zones of Greece following the Axis invasion that April. Notes issued under this authority circulated alongside the existing Bank of Greece drachma but were backed by nothing more than occupation force.
The series was printed in Italy, and the inflated face value reflects conditions that would only worsen dramatically — Greek hyperinflation during the Axis occupation became one of the most severe monetary collapses in modern European history, with the drachma eventually requiring a 1944 redenomination at 50 billion old drachmai to one new.