Catalog
5 Zlotych Bilet Zdawkowy
| Issuer | Ministerstwo Skarbu (Ministry of Treasury) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1925 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio-printed note with an elaborate guilloche border incorporating stylized floral and foliate ornaments, gear wheels, and sheaves of wheat at the upper centre. A large circular vignette at left contains a seated allegorical female figure. To the right, the issuing authority inscription and denomination are set in bold letterpress, with the date and two manuscript signatures below. The serial number is printed in black at the lower centre within a decorative ribbon cartouche, flanked by large numeral '5' corner pieces. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green on plain paper, the reverse is dominated by a central vignette of the Polish White Eagle with crown, set within an elaborate symmetrical guilloche framework of scrollwork and foliate ornaments. Large numeral '5' denominators appear in each corner, and the denomination legend is printed in bold capitals along the upper margin. A cautionary anti-counterfeiting inscription runs across the lower portion within a plain rectangular panel. |
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| Comments |
The Bilet Zdawkowy — literally "exchange ticket" — was a subsidiary currency instrument used by the Polish Treasury to address the chronic shortage of small-denomination coinage in the mid-1920s. These were not banknotes in the strict sense; they were issued by the Ministry of Treasury rather than the central bank, reflecting Poland's still-fragmented monetary infrastructure in the years following the hyperinflationary crisis that had destroyed the earlier marka.
The Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych, established in Warsaw in 1919, was itself a product of the young republic's drive to control its own security printing. This note is among the earlier domestic productions of that facility.