5000 Drachmai purple, small type

This note belongs to the immediate postwar reconstruction period, issued as Greece was deep in civil war between the government and communist-led forces. The Bank of Greece had been printing its own notes since the occupation years, when access to foreign security printers was severed, and that in-house production continued here. The designation "small type" distinguishes it from earlier high-denomination issues of similar face value — the hyperinflationary spiral of the occupation had forced successive reissues at identical denominations but with revised typography and layout to signal the new monetary regime.

The 1944 currency reform had slashed twelve zeros off the old drachma, so by 1947 a 5000-drachmai note represented real purchasing power again, at least nominally.