Greece · 100th anniversary of the union of Thrace with Greece

Issue date16 Jul 2020

Total mintage750,000

EU maximum750,000

Editions3

Edge letteringΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ + ★

Inscription100. JAHRESTAG DER VEREINIGUNG VON THRAKIEN MIT GRIECHENLAND / HELLENISCHE REPUBLIK / 2020

DesignerGeorgios Stamatopoulos

mintBank of Greece - Mint, Halandri

Issue occasion

The coin commemorates the 100th anniversary of the union of Thrace with Greece after the end of the First World War. The design depicts a replica of an ancient coin from the Thracian city of Abdera featuring a griffin. It also bears the inscriptions “100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNION OF THRACE WITH GREECE” and “HELLENIC REPUBLIC”, a palmette as the mint mark, and the monogram of the artist George Stamatopoulos.

The design

The design is a replica of an ancient coin from the Thracian city of Abdera, depicting a griffin. Along the inner rim of the coin are the inscriptions “100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNION OF THRACE WITH GREECE” and “HELLENIC REPUBLIC,” the year of issue “2020,” and a palmette (the mintmark of the Greek Mint). The artist’s monogram (George Stamatopoulos) is also located on the left. The region of Thrace, located in the northeastern part of the country, was united with Greece after the end of the First World War.

The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the coin’s outer ring.

Background on the topic

Thrace is a historical region in southeastern Europe that is now divided among Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. The Greek part is known as Western Thrace and comprises the present-day regional units of Xanthi, Rodopi and Evros. The 1920 unification therefore did not concern the whole of historical Thrace.

Western Thrace belonged to the Ottoman Empire for centuries. As a result of the Balkan Wars, the region came under Bulgarian rule in 1913. Since Bulgaria had fought on the side of the Central Powers in the First World War, it had to renounce Western Thrace under the Treaty of Neuilly following its defeat. The region was initially administered by the victorious Allied powers. At the San Remo Conference, its transfer to Greece was decided in 1920; Greek troops entered in May of the same year. The subsequent peace settlements confirmed its affiliation with Greece.

For a time, Greece also claimed Eastern Thrace. However, after the Greco-Turkish War, it had to relinquish this territory. The Treaty of Lausanne finally established in 1923 the border with Turkey that remains in place today. Western Thrace remained an ethnically and religiously mixed region. Unlike most Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Greece and Turkey, the Muslim population of Western Thrace was exempted from the compulsory population exchange between the two states. Its minority status was also regulated in Lausanne.

Abdera, whose ancient coin design inspired the motif, was a Greek polis on the Aegean coast of Thrace. The city engaged in trade and issued its own coins; the griffin served as its civic emblem. The ancient thinkers Democritus and Protagoras are also associated with Abdera. The reference to the coin design places the region’s modern state affiliation in the context of its Greek-speaking ancient past.

The occasion for the issue was the state-observed anniversary of the incorporation of Western Thrace. The motif combines this political commemorative date with the region’s ancient history without placing a military or political portrait at the centre.