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500 000 000 Drachmai
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 500 ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 500 500 ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΠΕΝΤΗΚΟΝΤΑ ΕΚΑΤΟΜΜΥΡΙΑ ΠΛΗΡΩΤΕΑΙ ΕΠΙ ΤΗ. ΕΜΦΑΝΙΣΕΙ ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ ΤΗ. 1 ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΥ 1944 Ο ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΗΣ ΟΙ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΑΙ ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΣ 500 500 |
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| Reverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ 500 ΕΚΑΤΟΜΜΥΡΙΑ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ 500 ΕΚΑΤΟΜΜΥΡΙΑ ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΗ |
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| Comments |
By the time this note was authorized in late 1944, the Axis occupation had driven Greek inflation to a point where the drachma had essentially ceased to function as a store of value. The 500,000,000 drachmai denomination was not an anomaly — it was one of several emergency high-denomination issues rushed out as the occupying forces stripped the country of goods and forced the Bank of Greece to cover the deficit with printed currency. Monthly inflation at the peak exceeded several billion percent.
Aspioti-ELKA, the Athens-based printer, produced the note domestically under extraordinarily constrained wartime conditions. The series was rendered worthless within months by the November 1944 currency reform, which replaced the occupation drachma at a rate of 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma.