Bank Polski issued this note under the currency stabilization framework that Poland had maintained since the 1927 monetary reform anchored the złoty to gold. By 1934, however, the Great Depression had badly eroded state finances, and the government was operating under increasingly tight foreign exchange controls — the note circulated in an economy where hard currency was jealously rationed and paper was the daily reality for most transactions.
The print run of just over 12 million is modest by interwar European standards. A significant portion of Bank Polski's pre-war stock was destroyed or lost during the German invasion of September 1939 and the subsequent looting of the bank's vaults, which has had a measurable effect on surviving quantities.
Bank Polski issued this note under the currency stabilization framework that Poland had maintained since the 1927 monetary reform anchored the złoty to gold. By 1934, however, the Great Depression had badly eroded state finances, and the government was operating under increasingly tight foreign exchange controls — the note circulated in an economy where hard currency was jealously rationed and paper was the daily reality for most transactions.
The print run of just over 12 million is modest by interwar European standards. A significant portion of Bank Polski's pre-war stock was destroyed or lost during the German invasion of September 1939 and the subsequent looting of the bank's vaults, which has had a measurable effect on surviving quantities.