Catalog
500 Gulden Bank Von Danzig
| Issuer | Bank von Danzig |
|---|---|
| Year | 1924 |
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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 | Central vignette presents the façade of the Great Arsenal (Großes Zeughaus) in Danzig, rendered in fine intaglio in the Flemish Mannerist architectural style. The coat of arms of the City of Danzig is positioned in the left field, with the denomination value expressed in numerals within rectangular frames at each corner. A guilloche underprint occupies the lower portion of the field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 500 500 BANK VON DANZIG FÜNFHUNDERT GULDEN |
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| Comments |
The Bank von Danzig was established in 1924 specifically to issue currency for the Free City of Danzig, the anomalous semi-autonomous territory created under League of Nations protection by the Treaty of Versailles. The city had been detached from Germany to give Poland guaranteed port access, but it was neither Polish nor German in formal legal terms — a compromise that satisfied no one and produced a currency that existed largely in political limbo.
Bradbury Wilkinson's engraved work on this series is among the finer output from their Interwar commissions. The 500 Gulden was the high denomination of a short-lived monetary system that would be progressively destabilized through the 1930s as Nazi influence over Danzig's Senate hardened.