The 25,000 drachmai of 1943 is an occupation issue of the Bank of Greece with a mythological subject: on the left of the front is a bust of the nymph Deidamia. The back shows the ruins of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the sanctuary where the Olympic Games were born.

Such notes are direct witnesses of the occupation hyperinflation: the Bank of Greece records that, because of «galloping inflation», huge denominations were printed during the war by various lithographers in the country, the last one, of 100 billion drachmas, on 5 November 1944. A few days later a law set one new drachma equal to 50 billion old ones.

For an «Olympia and the Olympic Games» collection this is a wartime note with an unusual subject, and in a Greece collection it stands between the 5,000 drachmai of 1943 and the million-drachma notes of 1944. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

If this theme interests you, take a look at the other items in the VPcoins catalogue.