1000 Zlotys Environmental Protection - Owl, Trial Strike

Poland's Environmental Protection series of the 1980s was issued under the auspices of the communist People's Republic, a government whose industrial policies were simultaneously devastating the very ecosystems the coins nominally celebrated. Trial strikes — próby in Polish — from Mennica Polska during this period were produced in small numbers for approval purposes and occasionally released through Pewex hard-currency shops, making their distribution history genuinely irregular. The .750 silver alloy distinguishes this próba from the standard circulation or collector strikes, a deliberate variation used to test planchet behavior before committing to a final specification.