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500 Dracme
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Bust of Michelangelo's David in an ornate intaglio vignette at left, set within a decorative frame with foliate and cornucopia motifs. An oval blank reserve panel occupies the right portion of the note, flanked by guilloche borders. Bilingual inscriptions in Italian and Greek identify the issuing authority and denomination. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | CASSA MEDITERRANEA DI CREDITO PER LA GRECIA ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΝ ΤΑΜΕΙΟΝ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ ΔΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ BUONO PER Cinquecento DRACME ΑΞΙΑ ΠΕΝΤΑΚΟΣΙΑΙ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ 500 DRACME ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was an Italian military occupation currency authority, established in 1941 to manage monetary affairs in Axis-occupied Greece. Its notes circulated alongside — and progressively displaced — the existing Bank of Greece issues, with the occupying forces effectively using the printing press to extract resources from the local economy without direct foreign exchange cost.
Greece suffered one of the worst hyperinflationary collapses of the war years. By 1944, the drachma had become nearly worthless, and occupation-era issues like this one are inseparable from that catastrophe.