Greek Phoenix Coin - The First Neo-Hellenic Coin - Short HIstory

The phoenix was the first currency of the modern Greek state, introduced in 1828 by governor Kapodistrias to replace the Turkish currency.

Phoenix is a mythical bird with a tail of beautiful gold and red plumage. It has a 600-800 year life-cycle, and near the end of this cycle, the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix is reborn to live again.

So, this symbol has been chosen for the first coin of First Hellenic Republic, after the Greek Revolution, to symbolize the rebirth of Greece.

Only a small number of such coins were minted, making the existing original coins very rare today. A year after Kapodistria’s assassination in 1831, the phoenix coin was replaced by the drachma, the ancient Greek coin.