At the time between 1880 and 1910,
Ottoman Empire
had problems to the economy. A
very good example is the lack of change (coins of small values) which was on display at this particular period.
Greek societies (villages and very small villages) living inside the
Ottoman Empire in order to overcome this economical crisis and for their every day needs decided to
mint local coins. They took old
Ottoman coins (10 para or 20 para etc) which they were not any longer in use and they were
countermarked them.
Usually the
countermark was the symbol of the local
Christian church; sometimes it was also the symbol of the local authority. However, at the end, in all Greek societies, the responsibility for the minting passed exclusively to the local churches.
I know for sure that coins of this
type were
countermarked in societies of East
Macedonia (I mean the Greek
Macedonia and not any other Slavic region want to be named as Macedonian
) and in the islands of
Thasos,
Chios and others.
What I would like to ask, is if anyone here knows about local coins of this
type, which were minted in the island of Evoia or
Euboea (Negroponte in Venetians)? I mean of course before 1830. At 1830 the island of Evoia was finally won its freedom over the Turks and it was united with the rest of Greek land which was already free. However, if any one knows anything about Local coins in Evoia, even after it was free, please feel free to tell us about it.
Thank You.
Here is an example of a 20 para coin marked in
Thasos in 1882-1883:
[link photo removed by admin - upload photos to the
discussion board]
The Greek letters at the mark (
-
–
-
) mean (
)
(
)
(
)
(
)
In English: well I don’t think that it can be translated
. Is something like,
Church Vourgaros dedicated to the mother of the
Christ. Something like that...