Catalog
1000 Zlotych
| Issuer | Bank Polski |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Currency | Second Zloty (1924-1949) |
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| Obverse description | Brown-toned note with elaborate guilloche scrollwork filling the upper register, centred by the heading BANK POLSKI in large letterpress and the denomination TYSIĄC ZŁOTYCH below. The date WARSZAWA dn 28 Lutego 1919 roku is inscribed across the middle field, flanked by two manuscript signatures above their printed titles, with serial number panels at left and right reading TYSIĄC in ornate cartouches. In the lower-left quadrant, an intaglio portrait vignette of Tadeusz Kościuszko faces three-quarters right, while a blank oval reserve occupies the lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANK POLSKI TYSIĄC ZŁOTYCH WARSZAWA dn 28 Lutego 1919 roku DYREKCJA BANKU POLSKIEGO GŁÓWNY SKARBNIK TYSIĄC 1000 |
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| Comments |
Bank Polski's 1000 Złotych of 1919 was part of the first sovereign Polish note issue following the re-establishment of an independent Polish state after 123 years of partition. The timing was precarious — Poland was simultaneously fighting wars on multiple fronts, and the new currency had to assert legitimacy against a population that had spent generations using Russian rubles, German marks, and Austrian kronen depending on which corner of the country they lived in.
Waterlow & Sons handled the printing, as they did for a number of newly reconstituted or transitional governments in this period. The 1000 Złotych denomination was the highest in this issue, which made it both economically significant and a natural target for counterfeiting pressure during the inflationary chaos of the early 1920s.