500000000 drachmai
Greece · 1944
A Bank of Greece 500 million drachmai, dated in Athens on 1 October 1944. The front shows the head of Apollo from the temple of Zeus at Olympia, named on the note. The back shows a relief of young riders on rearing horses, after the Parthenon frieze. It was issued during the severe hyperinflation of the wartime occupation, and in November 1944 a new drachma replaced the old at 50 billion to one.
What it boughtAs the Germans left Greece in autumn 1944 a gold sovereign cost 71 trillion drachmai, so buying one took 142,000 of these notes.
- Ref
- 734; 1979; 1980; 1981; 1982; 1983; 1984; 1985; 1986; 1987; 1988; 1989; 1990
- Country
- Greece
- Issuer
- Greece
- Denomination
- 500000000 drachmai
- Catalogue number
- Pick 132
- Date
- 1944 (printed on the note)
- Estimated value
- £2.55 to £5.03 · price guide: Numista
- Grade
- EF (estimated from photos)
- Copies in the collection
- 13