100 Zlotys WW2 Polish Government in Exile

Bank Polski had fled Warsaw ahead of the German advance, and by the time these notes were printed in London, the institution issuing them controlled no territory whatsoever. The notes were intended for use by Polish forces in the West and for a liberated Poland that, for most of the war's duration, remained a political abstraction.

Serveau's design was borrowed from earlier prewar Polish work — a French illustrator whose name appears on several interwar European currency commissions. Vacek's engraving brought the detail up to De La Rue's exacting production standard. The watermark was retained as a continuity signal, linking these exile-issue notes back to the legitimate prewar series.

Unissued remainders from this printing survived in quantity, which is why uncirculated examples are far easier to find than genuinely used ones.