Catalog
500 000 Zlotys
| Issuer | Narodowy Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | NARODOWY BANK POLSKI BANKNOTY EMITOWANE PRZEZ NARODOWY BANK POLSKI SĄ PRAWNYM ŚRODKIEM PŁATNICZYM W POLSCE PIĘĆSET TYSIĘCY ZŁOTYCH (Translation: NATIONAL BANK OF POLAND BANKNOTES ISSUED BY NATIONAL BANK OF POLAND ARE LEGAL MEANS OF PAYMENT IN POLAND FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND ZLOTYCH) |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Watermark visible in the unprinted left margin area of the obverse |
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| Comments |
Poland's hyperinflationary spiral in the late 1980s and early 1990s forced the NBP to issue denominations that would have seemed absurd a decade earlier — the 500,000 złoty note being among the highest face values ever printed for general circulation in Polish history. Inflation peaked at roughly 640% in 1989, the direct consequence of the communist government's wage liberalization policies collapsing under their own weight just as the political system did the same.
The note was printed domestically by PWPW, the Warsaw security printer operating continuously since 1919 — the same facility that produced documents for the Polish underground state during the German occupation. Within four years of this note's issue, the denomination was effectively worthless, rendered obsolete by the 1995 redenomination that replaced 10,000 old złotych with one new złoty.