Catalog
20 Zlotych
| Issuer | Narodowy Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1948 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | NARODOWY BANK POLSKI 20 DWADZIEŚCIA ZŁOTYCH WARSZAWA DNIA 1 LIPCA 1948 ROKU (Translation: National Bank of Poland 20 Twenty Zlotys Warsaw [On the day of] July 1st, the year 1948) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The print date of 30 April 1945 is the detail that matters here. Warsaw had been liberated only three months earlier, and Poland's new communist-backed provisional government was already moving to establish financial institutions before the war had even ended. That the Hungarian Banknote Printing Company in Budapest handled part of this production is unsurprising — PWPW in Warsaw had been obliterated during the German destruction of the city in late 1944, and the Poles were printing wherever they could.
The three-year gap between the print date and the 1948 issue year reflects the transitional chaos of postwar Polish monetary policy, including the 1945 currency reform that invalidated occupation-era notes.