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50 Dollars Foreign Exchange Certificate
| Issuer | Bank Polska Kasa Opieki SA (Bank Pekao SA) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1960 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Red and pink bon towarowy (commodity voucher) with a vertical lilac guilloche band at centre. The PEKAO logo appears at top, beneath the bold heading BON TOWAROWY; a serial number and italic Polish authorisation text sit above a central oval guilloche vignette enclosing the denomination $50$. The issuer name Bank Polska Kasa Opieki SA and date WARSZAWA, DNIA 1 STYCZNIA 1960 R. appear at foot. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | PEKAO BONY TOWAROWE BANKU PKO S.A NIE PODLEGAJĄ UMORZENIU I W ZAMIAN BONÓW UTRACONYCH BANK PKO SA NIE WYDAJE DOKUMENTÓW ZASTĘPCZYCH |
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| Comments |
Polska Kasa Opieki — Pekao — was established in 1929 specifically to capture hard currency remittances sent by Polish emigrants abroad, primarily from the United States. By 1960, that original mandate had been repurposed entirely by the communist government: the Foreign Exchange Certificates (bony towarowe) became a mechanism for extracting dollars from Poles who received them from relatives in the West, funneling that hard currency into state coffers while giving recipients access to otherwise unobtainable imported goods at the Pewex retail network.
The system was quietly coercive. Dollars received through the post were often automatically converted into these certificates by postal authorities before the recipient ever saw the cash. Refusing the exchange was not a practical option for most.