100 Zlotys Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Trial Strike Ni

Poland's commemorative program of the 1970s produced numerous trial strikes in alternative metals before final composition decisions were made — this nickel essai for the Skłodowska-Curie 100-złoty issue is a product of that process. The production type was eventually struck in copper-nickel for general circulation in 1974, the centenary of her birth. Trial pieces in pure nickel were retained by the mint or distributed through official channels to collectors and foreign numismatic agencies, never reaching circulation.

Skłodowska-Curie remains the only person awarded Nobel Prizes in two separate sciences — Physics in 1903 and Chemistry in 1911. The Fischer and ParM references both catalog this as a distinct variety from the copper-nickel essai, distinguished by composition rather than die.