Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5000 Drachmai punch holes
| Issuer | Bank of Greece |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5000 Drachmai |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central intaglio vignette of a griffin — a classical mythical creature with eagle head and leonine body — standing on a rocky plinth and rendered in a formal, architectural surround of pilasters and decorative panels. The bank title ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ runs across the top in letterpress, and the inscription ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΗ appears in the lower margin. Repeated numeral 5000 borders frame the composition on all sides, with punch hole cancellations visible through the central design. |
| Reverse lettering | ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΗ |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
When Italy invaded Greece in October 1940, the existing currency infrastructure came under immediate strain. This note was printed by the American Bank Note Company in New York for the Bank of Greece, part of a broader effort to maintain supply ahead of the Axis occupation that followed in April 1941. The punch cancellation — not a defacement but a deliberate demonetization procedure — indicates this example was officially withdrawn from circulation rather than redeemed through normal channels.
Cancelled remainders from this series occasionally surface with the holes misread as damage. They are not.