Catalog
500 000 Marks
| Issuer | Polska Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| In circulation to | 1924 |
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| Obverse description | Olive-green note with an intricate guilloche underprint covering the entire field. The issuer's name arcs across the top in bold letterpress, with the denomination spelled out in large text at centre: PIĘĆSET TYSIĘCY MAREK POLSKICH, flanked left and right by numeral medallions reading 500000 set within engine-turned rosettes. A central text panel carries the redemption clause and the date WARSZAWA, DNIA 30. SIERPNIA 1923 ROKU, with three manuscript signatures and their printed titles below. Serial numbers appear at lower left and right. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Polska Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa — the Polish State Loan Bank — was itself a wartime creation of the German occupying administration, established in 1916 to manage currency in the occupied Polish territories. By 1923 it was issuing notes with face values in the hundreds of thousands, a direct consequence of the hyperinflationary spiral tearing through the region's post-partition economies. This 500,000 Mark denomination was not an outlier; it was a practical necessity.
The marka polska was replaced by the złoty in 1924 at a rate of 1,800,000 mareks to one złoty, which gives some indication of where things stood.