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20 Drachmai
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1955 |
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| Printer | Banknote and Currency Printing Office (Ίδρυμα Εκτυπώσεως Τραπεζογραμματίων και Αξιών / Idryma Ektiposeos Trapezogrammation kai Axion), Holargos, Greece (1947-date) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 20 ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 20 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΕΙΚΟΣΙ ΠΛΗΡΩΤΕΑΙ ΕΠΙ Τῌ ΕΜΦΑΝΙΣΕΙ ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ Τῌ 1η ΜΑΡΤΙΟΥ 1955 Ο ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΗΣ Ο ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΗΣ Α Κ. ΔΗΜΟΚΡΙΤΟΣ 20 (Translation: 20 Bank of Greece 20 Twenty Drachmai Paid on appearance In Athens, 1st March 1955 Manager (signature of N. Karabateas) Governor (signature of Xenophon Zolotas) A. K. Demokritos 20) |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Greece established its own state printing works at Holargos in the late 1940s, ending decades of reliance on foreign printers — De La Rue, Bradbury Wilkinson, and others had produced most earlier Bank of Greece issues. This note is among the earlier domestic productions from that facility, at a time when the Greek economy was still rebuilding after wartime occupation and the subsequent civil war, both of which had been catastrophically inflationary.
Zolotas, one of the two signatories here, served multiple stints as Bank of Greece governor and later as Prime Minister. His first governorship began in 1955 — meaning his signature on this issue dates to essentially his first year in the role.