Historical coins and banknotes of Poland

{{See also|Polish złoty}}

{{More citations needed|date=January 2021}}

{{multiple image

| footer = 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. | width = 60| image1 = POL-A1a-Bilet Skarbowy-5 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg |alt1=5 Zlotych, first issue of 1794| image2 = POL-A2a-Bilet Skarbowy-10 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg|alt2=10 Zlotych, first issue of 1794| image3 = POL-A3a-Bilet Skarbowy-25 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg|alt3=25 Zlotych, first issue of 1794| image4 = POL-A4-Bilet Skarbowy-50 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg|alt4=50 Zlotych, first issue of 1794| image5 = POL-A5-Bilet Skarbowy-100 Zlotych (1794 First Issue).jpg|alt5=100 Zlotych, first issue of 1794}}

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

Before the 20th century

File:Tymf - złotówka 1663.jpg

border=1 width=325 align=center cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 style="margin-left:0.5em; border-collapse:collapse; text-align:center; font-size:90%;"

|+ Polish coins and banknotes

bgcolor="#ffdead;"

! width=20%| Unit (ZŁ) !! width=40%| Obverse !! width=40%| Reverse

colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Coins (Kingdom of Poland)
colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Banknotes (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)
4 zł300px300px
colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Banknotes (Duchy of Warsaw)
colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Coins (1815-1850)
2 zł300px
5 zł300px
colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Banknotes (1850-1917)

20th-century and interwar

border=1 width=325 align=center cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 style="margin-left:0.5em; border-collapse:collapse; text-align:center; font-size:90%;"

|+ Polish coins and banknotes

bgcolor="#ffdead;"

! width=20%| Unit (ZŁ) !! width=40%| Obverse !! width=40%| Reverse

colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Banknotes (1917-1924)
{{1/2}} mark300px300px
10 marks300px300px
50 marks300px300px
100 marks300px300px
colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Banknotes (1924-1939)
10 gr300px300px
2 zł (1936)300px300px
5 zł (1930)300px300px
10 zł (1929)300px300px
20 zł (1929)300px300px
20 zł (1931)300px300px
20 zł (1936)300px300px
50 zł (1929)300px300px
50 zł (1936)300px300px
100 zł (1934)300px300px
colspan=3 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Banknotes (1939-1944)
1 zł (1940)300px300px
1 zł (1941)300px300px
2 zł (1941)300px300px
5 zł (1940)300px
5 zł (1941)300px300px
10 zł (1940)300px300px
20 zł (1940)300px300px
50 zł (1940)300px300px
50 zł (1941)300px300px
100 zł (1940)300px300px
100 zł (1941)300px300px
500 zł (1940)300px300px

= Coins =

1924 - See [http://dziennikustaw.gov.pl/du/1924/s/45/D1924045000001.pdf Dziennik Ustaw 1924-045]

Post-WWII

border=1 width=325 align=center cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 style="margin-left:0.5em; border-collapse:collapse; text-align:center; font-size:90%;"

|+ Polish coins and banknotes

bgcolor="#ffdead;"

! Image !! width=20%| Unit (ZŁ) !! width=40%| Obverse !! width=40%| Reverse

colspan=4 bgcolor="#efefef" align=center| Banknotes (1945-1950)
align="center" | [http://coinsbanknotespictures.blogspot.com/2010/06/poland-paper-money-20-zlotych-1947-issue.html]20 zł300px300px
align="center" | [http://coinsbanknotespictures.blogspot.com/2010/06/poland-paper-money-100-zlotych-1947.html]100 zł300px300px
align="center" | [http://coinsbanknotespictures.blogspot.com/2010/06/rare-poland-paper-money-500-zlotych.html]500 zł300px300px
align="center" | [http://coinsbanknotespictures.blogspot.com/2010/06/rare-poland-paper-money-1000-zlotych.html]1000 zł300px300px

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,[http://numibyd.pl/art_005.html The 1950 currency reform, i.e. let's take people's money] 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.

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%"

!colspan="10"|Series of 1948

colspan="2"| Imagerowspan="2"| Valuerowspan="2"| Dimensionscolspan="2"| Descriptioncolspan="4"| Date of
ObverseReverseObverseReversefirst printingissuewithdrawallapse
align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 84px

|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 84px

| 2 zł

| 120 mm × 58 mm

| Face value

| The design of the (then) future NBP building at Warsaw Insurgents Square in Warsaw

|rowspan="7"| 1 July 1948

|rowspan="7"| 30 October 1950

|rowspan="2"| 1 January 1960

|rowspan="2"| 30 June 1960

align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 99px

|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 99px

| 5 zł

| 142 mm × 67 mm

| Face value

| Farmer plowing a field with a tractor

align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 104px

|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 104px

| 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

align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 112px

|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 112px

| 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)[http://numibyd.pl/art_006.html Anielka - a mysterious worker from a banknote.][https://dziennikpolski24.pl/dziewczyna-z-banknotu/ar/3095240 Girl with a banknote]

| Kraków Cloth Hall

| 30 June 1977

| 31 December 1977

align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 115px

|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 115px

| 50 zł

| 164 mm × 78 mm

| Portrait of a fisherman

| Port of Gdynia

| 30 June 1978

| 31 December 1978

align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 120px

|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 120px

| 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

align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 125px

|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| 125px

| 500 zł

| 178 mm × 85 mm

| Portrait of a miner in helmet

| Underground mining scene

| 31 December 1977

| 30 June 1978

colspan="10"|{{Standard banknote table notice|standard_scale=Y|BrE=Y}}

=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 denominations 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.

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%"

! colspan="8" |1974 Series

ImageValueDimensionsColourObverseReversePrinted

|Withdrawn

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" |139px
139px

| 10 zł

| rowspan="17" | 139 x 63 mm

| Bluish green

| Józef Bem

| Indication of value

| 1982

| rowspan="17" |31 December 1996

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" |

| 20 zł

| Multicoloured

| Romuald Traugutt

| Indication of value

| 1982

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" |

| 50 zł

| Green

| Karol Świerczewski

| Grunwald Cross Medal

| 1975,1979,1982, 1986,1988

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2015/04/poland-100-zloty-banknote-1975-ludwik-warynski.html]

| 100 zł

| Red

| Ludwik Waryński

| "Proletaryat" (19th century Polish socialist party)

| 1975,1976, 1979,1982,1986,1988

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2015/04/poland-200-zloty-banknote-1988-jaroslaw-dabrowski.html]

| 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

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" |

| 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

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" |

| 1000 zł

| Blue

| Nicolaus Copernicus

| Heliocentric Solar System

| 1975,1979,1982

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" |

| 2000 zł

| Brown

| Mieszko I

| Bolesław I the Brave

| 1977,1979,1982

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2015/04/poland-5000-zloty-banknote-1982-frederic-chopin.html]

| 5000 zł

| Green

| Frédéric Chopin

| Polonaise notes

| 1982,1986, 1988

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2015/04/poland-10000-zloty-banknote-stanislaw-wyspianski.html]

| 10 000 zł

| Green and violet

| Stanisław Wyspiański

| Kraków

| 1987,1988

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2015/04/poland-20000-zloty-banknote-1988-marie-sklodowska-curie.html]

| 20 000 zł

| Orange

| Maria Skłodowska-Curie

| Nuclear reactor "Ewa" near Warsaw

| 1989

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2012/03/poland-paper-money-50000-zloty-banknote.html]

| 50 000 zł

| Brown

| Stanisław Staszic

| The Staszic Palace in Warsaw

| 1989,1993

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2015/04/poland-100000-zloty-banknote-1990-stanislaw-moniuszko.html]

| 100 000 zł

| Blue

| Stanisław Moniuszko

| Teatr Wielki, Warsaw

| 1990,1993

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2012/03/poland-currency-200000-zloty-banknote.html]

| 200 000 zł

| Brown

| Coat of arms

| Warsaw

| 1989

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2012/03/polish-banknotes-500000-zloty-banknote.html]

| 500 000 zł

| Blue and brown

| Henryk Sienkiewicz

| "Trilogy"

| 1990,1993

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" | [https://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2012/03/polish-banknotes-1000000-zloty-banknote.html]

| 1 000 000 zł

| Light brown

| Władysław Reymont

| Country landscape

| 1991,1993

align="center" bgcolor="#000000" |

| 2 000 000 zł

| Multicoloured

| Ignacy Jan Paderewski

| The 1919 Coat of arms of Poland

| 1992,1993

colspan="8" |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

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Historical Coins And Banknotes Of Poland}}

Category:Currencies of Poland

Category:Economic history of Poland