1 Zloty

Bank Polski's 1919 1 Zloty was among the first notes issued for the newly reconstituted Polish state, a country that had been partitioned out of existence for over 120 years and was simultaneously fighting wars on multiple fronts — against Bolshevik forces to the east and contested borders to the west and south. The decision to contract printing to the Banque de France reflected both the absence of domestic printing infrastructure and France's strong political interest in a stable, sovereign Poland as a buffer against both Germany and Soviet Russia.

The Banque de France connection also carried a practical implication: watermark security was a French printing house specialty, and the paper quality sourced through Paris was considerably more consistent than anything Poland could have produced domestically in 1919.