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20 Zlotys WW2 Polish Government in Exile
| Issuer | Bank Polski |
|---|---|
| Year | 1939 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Second Zloty (1924-1949) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | DWADZIEŚCIA ZŁOTYCH / BILETY BANKU POLSKIEGO SĄ PRAWNYM ŚRODKIEM PŁATNICZYM W POLSCE / THOMAS DE LA RUE & CO. LTD, LONDYN |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Watermark visible in the left margin area of the note. |
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| Comments |
Bank Polski had evacuated its gold reserves and senior staff westward in September 1939 before the Germans reached Warsaw. This note was designed and printed in London — by Edmund Dulac, the Franco-British illustrator better known for postage stamps and book illustrations — as currency for a government that had no territory to circulate it in. Vacek's engraving brought a level of technical refinement that arguably exceeded anything Bank Polski had issued domestically.
Actual distribution was extremely limited. Some notes reached Polish Armed Forces in the West; the majority remained in storage. The 1939 series was never legal tender in liberated Poland, the communist government having established its own monetary authority in the interim.