1988 100 Drachmai Greece

The 1988 100 drachma coin prominently features Democritus, the ancient Greek philosopher who first theorized about atoms, on its obverse—a nod to Greece's intellectual legacy that somehow survived decades of economic ups and downs.

This copper-nickel piece was struck for general circulation, part of a series that helped streamline the drachma's denominations amid post-dictatorship reforms. The reverse shows the Greek coat of arms, flanked by the year and denomination. While exact mintage figures vanished with poorly kept records, it's clear thousands were produced in Athens.

Production quirks included reusing planchets from earlier issues, a cost-saving measure that occasionally led to faint strikes. As for myths, I've heard tales of these coins funding Olympic bids, but that's just speculation—most ended up in pockets, not history books.

Plenty of these turn up in estate lots, still shiny after all that time.