2 Zlotys 1st Eagle Design

Poland's early postwar coinage was managed under Soviet-aligned monetary policy, but by the mid-1970s the NBP was navigating a peculiar economic contradiction: official exchange rates bore almost no relationship to purchasing power, and the zloty's domestic role was increasingly undermined by hard-currency "Pewex" stores where Poles could spend Western money the state officially pretended didn't circulate. Coins of this denomination were struck in enormous quantities across the decade, yet chronic shortages of small goods meant they often piled up rather than turned over.

The Y#80.1 designation distinguishes this from a later die revision; collectors should note the reference split across ParM#217 and #218 reflects a documented edge-lettering variant, not a design change.