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50 000 000 Drachmai Kalamata
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Pink note printed in violet, with a small flag vignette at upper left and upper right flanking the issuer inscription. The central text area carries the denomination in large Greek letters across the middle, above a promise-to-pay clause and a mandatory acceptance notice, with the place and date of issue (Kalamata, 20 September 1944) set below. Three manuscript signatures appear at the bottom, attributed to the local committee president, secretary, and the Bank of Greece Kalamata branch representative, within a simple bordered frame. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain pink reverse, largely unprinted, with a simple guilloche border running along all four edges. A circular official stamp and a handwritten countersignature are applied in manuscript ink at centre, with a serial number visible at the upper left. |
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| Comments |
By mid-1944, German and Italian occupation had so thoroughly destroyed the Greek monetary system that denominations climbed into the tens of millions almost weekly. This 50,000,000 drachmai note was issued during one of the most catastrophic hyperinflationary episodes in recorded history — the wartime inflation that ultimately required a 1944 redenomination at 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma.
The Kalamata designation identifies the branch of payment, not the printing location; the Bank of Greece Printing Works in Athens produced the series centrally. Branch-designated notes were a practical measure for regional distribution under occupation-era logistical constraints.