Opou Yeoryis Mulama - Where there is a George - there is Gold.

Small Head Portrait on Obverse of Late George V soveriegns. In numismatics - obverse means the "front" of the coin.

Being a Yeoryi - one of my favourite sayings was "Opou Yeoryis Mulama" - "Where there is a George - there is gold".

Although other names could be interchanged for Yeoryi - it seemed almost invariably to be used in association with that name.

Why this was so - I was always unsure - although I guessed that it might relate to the rise of the Greek kings - George and Constantine after Greek Independence.

In June 2004, George Lyris, formerly of Akrata, Egialia, Peleponnese, Greece:

[AKRATA (Municipality) belongs to EGIALIA (Province)
EGIALIA (Province) belongs to ACHAIA (Prefecture)
ACHAIA (Prefecture) belongs to WEST GREECE (Region)
WEST GREECE (Region) belongs to GREECE (Country)];

and now living in Bexley, Sydney, Australia, solved the mystery of the origin of the saying for me.

"Opou Yeoryis Mulama" - comes from the old British gold sovereign, that enjoyed a wide circulation in Greece in the 19th and early 20th century.

One one side of sovereign was King George of England, and on the other Saint George.

So on which ever side of the gold coin you looked - you always perceived a George.

On a gold coin....always Georges, became,
in reverse:
were there is a George....gold.

I am still searching to find my "El Dorado" - but because of this Greek/Kytherian saying - I am ever hopeful.

"Opou Yeoryis Mulama"
- "Where there is a George - there is gold".


Reverse 1911 George V sovereign. In numismatics - reverse means the "back" of the coin.