Catalog
1000 Marks
| Issuer | Polska Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Designer(s) | Adam Półtawski |
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| Obverse description | Brown and olive-green intaglio print on a light guilloche underprint. At left, a circular vignette contains an intaglio portrait of Tadeusz Kościuszko wearing a traditional konfederatka cap; at right, a corresponding circular vignette bears the crowned Polish eagle with spread wings. The issuer's name is inscribed across the upper centre, with the denomination TYSIĄC MAREK POLSKICH in bold lettering and the numeral 1000 below; three manuscript signatures appear along the base, with series and serial number printed in red at the lower left and lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Brown on a light underprint. The central vignette presents the crowned Polish eagle with spread wings set within an elaborate radiating guilloche and foliate scroll surround, with the denomination numeral 1000 in large outline figures at the left and right margins. A curved anti-counterfeiting warning inscription runs along the lower portion of the central vignette, and the designer and engraver credits are printed in small text at the lower left and lower right corners respectively. |
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| Comments |
The Polska Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa — the Polish State Loan Bank — was a monetary institution established under German occupation in 1916 to manage currency in the occupied Polish territories, effectively replacing the Russian ruble with the marka as the Germans extended administrative control. By 1919, the institution was operating under the newly independent Polish state, and this 1000 Marek note belongs to that transitional moment: the same apparatus that served an occupying power now issuing currency for a sovereign republic still fighting on multiple fronts.
Adam Półtawski, better known as a typographer and later the designer of the Półtawski Antiqua typeface, brought genuine graphic discipline to the series. Engraving credit goes to B. Wierzbicki, printed locally in Warsaw rather than abroad — notable given how many contemporaneous Polish issues relied on foreign presses.