Greece (1928-1935)

This serie of banknotes belongs to the period of the Second Hellenic Republic, in which the liberal Eleftherios Venizelos returned to the country to preside over his fifth government, in which he reformed the Senate, signed a pact of friendship with Italy (which had snatched the Dodecanese to Turkey), built schools but He could not stop the corruption, which caused him to lose the 1933 elections. The Populist monarchist party won these elections, which increased the tension between monarchists and republicans, which ended with the attempted assassination of Venizelos and several coups, in which the republican and liberal military were purged and had to escape to the Dodecanese, leaving the monarchist leader Georgios Kondilis mount a manipulated referendum, after which the monarchy was restored in the figure of George II. There are banknotes of 5 drachmai, 50 drachmai, 100 drachmai, 500 drachmai, 1,000 drachmai and 5,000 drachmai. 

500 drachmai (Δραχμαι πεντακόσια)

This banknotes worth 500 drachmai was first circulated in October the 1st 1932. On the main side center you can see an hoplite (ὁπλίτης in Greek), an Ancient Greek soldier who were primarily armed with spears, shields and swords. In its left and right appears two 500's (plus the four 500's in the corners) and in the upper part, the name of the National Bank in Greek (Τραπεζα τησ Ελλαδοσ). In the middle is written the value of the banknote too and the rest of the banknote is fulled with geometric elements.

On the other side you can see at center a stone carving. There is five 500's (one in the center and four in the corners. In the lower part there's a sentence saying "Εκδοσισ Πρωτη" that means first issue. And in the upper part appears again the name of the National Bank. This banknote has no digital watermark. The size of this banknote is 18.3 cm x 8.4 cm.