100 Zlotys Environmental Protection - Moose, Trial Strike

Poland's Environmental Protection series, launched in the late 1970s under the communist government, was one of the more earnest numismatic programs of the era — a state-sanctioned conservation message pressed into collector silver while the same government presided over some of the worst industrial pollution in Europe. The trial strike designation here indicates a proba, the Polish mint's standard process for testing dies and planchet specifications before authorizing full production runs. Probas from this series were issued in extremely limited quantities, typically to select officials and numismatic bureaus, and rarely entered open circulation channels.