Greece 20 drachmai 1930 - Poseidon

The coin's story

This 20 drachmas coin in 500 thousandths silver was issued on 7 December 1930 by the Bank of Greece, under the Second Republic. The Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed on 25 March 1924, after the departure of King George II, unstable, it came to an end in 1935 with the restoration of the monarchy. The Republic had its coins struck in the United Kingdom, at the Royal Mint in London. The obverse shows the prow of an ancient galley and the reverse the head of Poseidon, god of the sea. Both sides are the work of the English sculptor Percy Metcalfe, who two years earlier had designed the first coins of the Irish Free State, and of John Langford-Jones. The 1930 date was struck in 11,500,000 pieces.