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.
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.
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]
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.
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