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500 Drachmai
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Drachmai (500 δρᾰχμαί) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio portrait of Ioannis Capodistrias within a circular guilloche frame at left, set against a fine green underprint with intricate lathe-work patterns across the field. A central oval vignette with laurel wreath surround occupies the middle of the note, flanked at right by a circular guilloche panel bearing the denomination in Greek text and two manuscript signatures above the titles Ο ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΗΣ and Ο ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΗΣ. The issuer's name ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ appears in a central banner, with the serial number printed in two positions. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Aristotle's head visible when held to light |
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| Comments |
Greece in 1944 was simultaneously occupied by Axis forces and experiencing one of the worst hyperinflationary collapses of the twentieth century. The drachma had been effectively destroyed by occupation-era money printing — by late 1944, notes were being issued in denominations reaching into the hundreds of billions. A 500 drachmai note from this period was worth almost nothing at the time of issue.
The November 1944 currency reform replaced wartime drachmai at a rate of 50 billion old drachmai to one new drachma, rendering the entire wartime series obsolete almost immediately after printing.