Catalog
20 Marks
| Issuer | Polska Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa (Polish State Loan Bank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 151 × 98 mm |
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| Obverse description | The right half of the face is occupied by a vignette of a female portrait set within an oval guilloche frame, with a small crowned eagle shield in the upper right corner. The left portion carries a central text panel on a guilloche underprint bearing the issuer name POLSKA KRAJOWA at the top and KASA POŻYCZKOWA at the foot, with the denomination DWADZIEŚCIA MAREK POLSKICH in large letterpress above a legal obligation text dated Warszawa, 23 sierpnia 1919 roku. The numeral 20 appears in the lower right corner, and the entire note is enclosed within a scalloped decorative border in red and brown tones. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in red on a dense guilloche underprint of scrollwork and foliate ornaments within a scalloped border. A crowned Polish eagle set in a shield occupies the upper centre. The series designation and serial number are printed in black at the upper left and right respectively. Two circular guilloche rosettes, each containing the white numeral 20, are positioned at the lower left and right. A central anti-counterfeiting warning text in Polish appears between the rosettes. |
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| Comments |
The Polska Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa was not a Polish institution in origin — it was established in 1916 by the German occupation authorities as a vehicle to finance war expenditure and displace Russian ruble circulation in occupied Polish territory. When Poland regained independence in November 1918, the new state inherited the PKKP wholesale, continuing to issue its notes through 1919 and into 1920 simply because there was no alternative infrastructure yet in place.
The Pick 26 series ran to over twelve million pieces, reflecting the enormous demand pressure of a newly reconstituted state managing demobilization, border wars on three fronts, and rampant inflation simultaneously. The marka inflated catastrophically through this period — by 1923, the exchange rate against the US dollar had collapsed past 6,000,000 marks to the dollar, rendering notes like this one economically worthless before the złoty reform of 1924 extinguished the series entirely.