Historical coins and banknotes of Poland

See also: Polish złoty

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth first issued złotych banknotes in 1794 under the authority of Tadeusz Kościuszko. The 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 złotych are depicted above. A 500 and 1,000 złotych were issued but are very rare.

This is a list of historical coins and banknotes of Poland.

Before the 20th century

Polish coins and banknotes

Unit (ZŁ)	Obverse	Reverse
Coins (Kingdom of Poland)
Banknotes (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)
4 zł
Banknotes (Duchy of Warsaw)
Coins (1815-1850)
2 zł
5 zł
Banknotes (1850-1917)

20th-century and interwar

Polish coins and banknotes

Unit (ZŁ)	Obverse	Reverse
Banknotes (1917-1924)
1⁄2 mark
10 marks
50 marks
100 marks
Banknotes (1924-1939)
10 gr
2 zł (1936)
5 zł (1930)
10 zł (1929)
20 zł (1929)
20 zł (1931)
20 zł (1936)
50 zł (1929)
50 zł (1936)
100 zł (1934)
Banknotes (1939-1944)
1 zł (1940)
1 zł (1941)
2 zł (1941)
5 zł (1940)
5 zł (1941)
10 zł (1940)
20 zł (1940)
50 zł (1940)
50 zł (1941)
100 zł (1940)
100 zł (1941)
500 zł (1940)

Coins

1924 - See Dziennik Ustaw 1924-045

Post-WWII

Polish coins and banknotes

Image	Unit (ZŁ)	Obverse	Reverse
Banknotes (1945-1950)
[1]	20 zł
[2]	100 zł
[3]	500 zł
[4]	1000 zł

1950-currency reform

Series of 1948

The banknotes of the series of 1948 were designed by Polish painter and decorative artist Wacław Borowski. The introduction of these notes was part of the currency reform of 1950,[1] so the banknotes had to be printed quickly and in secrecy; so printing works in Poland (PWPW), Czechoslovakia (STC), Hungary (Pénzjegynyomda), Sweden (Riksbankens Sedeltryckeri), and Canada (British American Bank Note Company Ltd.) were involved.

Series of 1948
Image		Value	Dimensions	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse			Obverse	Reverse	first printing	issue	withdrawal	lapse
		2 zł	120 mm × 58 mm	Face value	The design of the (then) future NBP building at Warsaw Insurgents Square in Warsaw	1 July 1948	30 October 1950	1 January 1960	30 June 1960
		5 zł	142 mm × 67 mm	Face value	Farmer plowing a field with a tractor
		10 zł	148 mm × 70 mm	Portrait of a peasant (inspired by Mateusz Jóźwiak, the creator of cast printing matrices at PWPW)	Peasants loading sheaves to a ladder wagon.			31 December 1965	30 June 1966
		20 zł	160 mm × 76 mm	Portrait of a woman in kerchief (nicknamed "Anielka"; the portrait was supposedly inspired by Helena Michalik (née Bujak), who was a friend of Wacław Borowski)[2][3]	Kraków Cloth Hall			30 June 1977	31 December 1977
		50 zł	164 mm × 78 mm	Portrait of a fisherman	Port of Gdynia			30 June 1978	31 December 1978
		100 zł	172 mm × 82 mm	Portrait of a worker (a so-called "Pstrowski"; portrait inspired by Bronisław Tomaszewski, who was a driver at PWPW)	View of a factory with smoking chimneys (probably Łódź)			30 June 1977	31 December 1977
		500 zł	178 mm × 85 mm	Portrait of a miner in helmet	Underground mining scene			31 December 1977	30 June 1978
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Series of 1974

The National Bank of Poland began to introduce banknotes with the faces of "Great Poles" and the series was first introduced on 16 December 1974 with the 500 Zloty note. As economical situations worsened, by the 1980s higher and higher denonimations worsened and in 1989, the 20000 was adopted which was equvialent to half of a wage of that time(65,000 Zloty). By the end of 1989, a commemorative note was released into circulation, the 200,000 Zloty banknote which is rather a numismatical product(which still has a huge price tag even today) than an actual banknote meant for everyday payments/transactions. In 1990, as wages were regulated to the actual value of the currency, new higher denonimation notes were released such as the 500,000 Zloty note which was worth 50 Dollars and then it was devalued to 30 dollars when a new exchange rate was finalized to prevent hyperinflation. At the end of 1993, new reworked editions of banknotes(50.000,100.000,500.000,1.000.000 and 2.000.000 Zloty) were released which also erased the old Polish People's Republic name from the 50.000 and 100.000 Zloty banknotes in circulation. In 1994 they stopped printing old Zloty notes to later establish the Fourth Zloty by 1st January 1995. All of the banknotes together were withdrawn on 31st December 1996 and were no longer exchanged by 2010.

1974 Series
Image	Value	Dimensions	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	Printed	Withdrawn
	10 zł	139 x 63 mm	Bluish green	Józef Bem	Indication of value	1982	31 December 1996
	20 zł		Multicoloured	Romuald Traugutt	Indication of value	1982
	50 zł		Green	Karol Świerczewski	Grunwald Cross Medal	1975,1979,1982, 1986,1988
[5]	100 zł		Red	Ludwik Waryński	"Proletaryat" (19th century Polish socialist party)	1975,1976, 1979,1982,1986,1988
[6]	200 zł		Violet	Jarosław Dąbrowski	Monument to the Dead (of the Paris Commune) by Paul Moreau-Vauthier in the Père Lachaise Cemetery	1976, 1979,1986,1988
	500 zł		Brown	Tadeusz Kościuszko	"Żywią i Bronią" (They feed and defend), flag of Polish soldiers in Kraków during the Kościuszko Uprising	1974,1976,1979,1982
	1000 zł		Blue	Nicolaus Copernicus	Heliocentric Solar System	1975,1979,1982
	2000 zł		Brown	Mieszko I	Bolesław I the Brave	1977,1979,1982
[7]	5000 zł		Green	Frédéric Chopin	Polonaise notes	1982,1986, 1988
[8]	10 000 zł		Green and violet	Stanisław Wyspiański	Kraków	1987,1988
[9]	20 000 zł		Orange	Maria Skłodowska-Curie	Nuclear reactor "Ewa" near Warsaw	1989
[10]	50 000 zł		Brown	Stanisław Staszic	The Staszic Palace in Warsaw	1989,1993
[11]	100 000 zł		Blue	Stanisław Moniuszko	Teatr Wielki, Warsaw	1990,1993
[12]	200 000 zł		Brown	Coat of arms	Warsaw	1989
[13]	500 000 zł		Blue and brown	Henryk Sienkiewicz	"Trilogy"	1990,1993
[14]	1 000 000 zł		Light brown	Władysław Reymont	Country landscape	1991,1993
	2 000 000 zł		Multicoloured	Ignacy Jan Paderewski	The 1919 Coat of arms of Poland	1992,1993
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world banknotes.

A lot of these banknotes that circulated from 1974 to 1988 were printed in several years.

See also

• Polish coins and banknotes

References

1. The 1950 currency reform, i.e. let's take people's money
2. Anielka - a mysterious worker from a banknote.
3. Girl with a banknote