Commemorative Greek drachma coins have been issued by the Bank of Greece throughout the 20th century. Early (1940–1967) coins were minted in Birmingham, Paris, Vienna, and Prague, but since 1978 all of Greece's commemorative coins have been minted in Athens.
Commemorative coins of 1940 were minted to celebrate the five years of the restored Greek monarchy under King George II.
In 1970 the Greek junta regime issued a number of commemorative coins with the coup d'état of 1967 as a topic.
The Bank of Greece celebrated its 50th birthday with a commemorative coin in 1978.
The coins issued in 1979 celebrating Greece's entry into the European Economic Community were the first ones to feature the modern version of the Greek plural δραχμές instead of δραχμαί.
Coins issued in 1981 and 1982 celebrated the 13th Paneuropean games, which were held in Athens in 1982. Although minted two years after the 1979 coin, all of these coins featured the old spelling δραχμαί again.
Two commemorative coins were minted in 1984 to celebrate the XXIII Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
In 1985 two coins were minted celebrating the United Nations Decade for women (1976–1985).
The 1988 coins were minted to honour the 28th Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki.
The two coins minted in 1990 celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Italian invasion in Greece in World War II. The 28th of October is celebrated every year as a national holiday in Greece.
Two coins were minted in 1991 to celebrate the 11th Mediterranean Games, which were held in Athens that year.
An unusual anniversary, 2500 years of democracy, counting from Cleisthenes' democratic constitution of Athens of 508 BCE, was celebrated with two commemorative drachma coins in 1993.
1994 saw the minting of two coins commemorating the 100 years since the creation of the game volleyball.
The XXVI Olympic games in Atlanta were celebrated with the minting of three coins. Their common obverse shows the Kallimarmaro stadium in Athens.
Released for the upcoming 2004 XXVIII Olympic games to be held in Athens, these six 500 drachmas coins were produced in copper-nickel. Each had a mintage of 4,000,000. They could be purchased as complete sets. The obverse showed a victor's laurel crown. Reverse designs were as follows:
The last commemorative Greek drachma coin before the introduction of the euro was a gold version of the last single drachma circulation coin.
|
Main article: Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Greece) |
