Gold

Greek collectible gold proof coin with a face value of 100 euros, for the centenary of the liberation of Thessaloniki, maximum number of 1,500 pieces, Bank of Greece mint, issue in 2012. The photo is indicative, the coin you will receive is in the original box along with the certificate of authenticity. Since its foundation in Hellenistic times, Thessaloniki has always been an important centre of Hellenism. Thanks to its strategic position, the city assumed an increasingly pivotal role in the Balkans as a multi-ethnic and multicultural crossroads, both during Byzantine times and later under Ottoman rule. Thessaloniki was recaptured by the Greeks during the First Balkan War on 26 October 1912 and was formally ceded to Greece at the Balkan War with the signing of the Treaty 28 July 1913. Liberation would soon usher in a new era of progress and growth, especially after the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922 and the massive influx refugees, who would give new momentum and social life of the city. The obverse of the collector gold coin features a circular gold foil with a rosette at its centre, most probaly the adornment of a gearment (ancient cemetery of Nea Philadelphia, Thessaloniki, c . 480 BC), silhouetted against the Greek flag. The reverse of the coin features the White Tower of Thessaloniki and the coat of arms of the Hellenic Republic, flanked by stylized laurel leaves.

Greek collectible gold proof coin with a face value of 200 euros, for the 100 years from the Asia Minor Disaster, maximum number of 750 pieces, Bank of Greece mint, issue in 2022. The photo is indicative, the coin you will receive is in the original box along with the certificate of authenticity. The Asia Minor Disaster was the dramatic conclusion of the three-year Asia Minor Campaign, fuelled by the irredentist Great Idea (Megali Idea). A fierce counterattack by the Turks in August 1922 led to the collapse of the front and the withdrawal of the Greek troops, which had landed in Smyrna with the Allies’ authorisation in 1920 and then advanced inland into Anatolia. In September 1922, the Turks burned down Smyrna, forcing thousands of Greeks to abandon their ancestral homes and flee across the Aegean. The toll was tragic: thousands of deaths and casualties, pillaging, and the eradication of the Greek element from Asia Minor. Greece received a huge wave of refugees, especially after the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 and the convention on the exchange of populations. The refugee question would dominate political, social and economic developments in interwar Greece. The refugees gradually assimilated into Greek society, which they enriched with their spirit of enterprise and their culture and traditions, while always keeping alive the memory of their lost homeland.