Poland's commemorative gold program has long used independence anniversaries as anchors, and the 90th anniversary issue of 2008 marks the restoration of the Polish state in November 1918 — the moment Poland re-emerged after 123 years of partition between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. That partition, formalized through three successive agreements between 1772 and 1795, had erased Poland from the map of Europe entirely. The 1918 restoration came not through a single treaty but through a confluence of all three partitioning empires collapsing simultaneously within weeks of each other.
Poland's commemorative gold program has long used independence anniversaries as anchors, and the 90th anniversary issue of 2008 marks the restoration of the Polish state in November 1918 — the moment Poland re-emerged after 123 years of partition between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. That partition, formalized through three successive agreements between 1772 and 1795, had erased Poland from the map of Europe entirely. The 1918 restoration came not through a single treaty but through a confluence of all three partitioning empires collapsing simultaneously within weeks of each other.