This is a list of historical coins and banknotes from Poland.
Coins Pre-20th Century
Pre 20th Century) Image Value Technical parameters Description Date of Obverse Reverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Obverse Reverse first minting issue withdrawal Coins (1815-1841) 2 zł 26.0 mm ? mm 6.2 g 868‰ silver milled None ЧИСТАГО СЕРЕБРА 1 ЗОЛ 25½ ДОЛИ, 30 КОПѢЕКЪ, 2 ZŁOTE, year of minting. 1834 1834 1841 5 zł 33.0 mm ? mm 15.6 g 868‰ silver milled mint mark, ЧИСТАГО СЕРЕБРА 3 ЗОЛОТНИКА 15 3/4 ДОЛЕЙ 3/4 РУБЛЯ, 5 złot, year of minting 1833 1833 1841 Images might not actually be to scale... 20th-century and interwar 1924 - See Dziennik Ustaw 1924-045
Banknotes Before the 20th century
+ Polish coins and banknotes Unit (ZŁ) Obverse Reverse Coins (Kingdom of Poland) Banknotes (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) 4 zł Banknotes (Duchy of Warsaw) Banknotes (1850-1917)
20th-century and interwar + Polish coins and banknotes Unit (ZŁ) Obverse Reverse Banknotes (1917-1924) Polish marka mark 10 marks 50 marks 100 marks Banknotes (1924-1939) 10 gr 2 zł (1936) 5 zł (1930) 10 zł (1929) 20 zł (1929) 20 zł (1931) 20 zł (1936) 50 zł (1929) 50 zł (1936) 100 zł (1934) Banknotes (1939-1944) 1 zł (1940) 1 zł (1941) 2 zł (1941) 5 zł (1940) 5 zł (1941) 10 zł (1940) 20 zł (1940) 50 zł (1940) 50 zł (1941) 100 zł (1940) 100 zł (1941) 500 zł (1940)
Post-WWII + Polish coins and banknotes Image Unit (ZŁ) Obverse Reverse Banknotes (1945-1950) 20 zł 100 zł 500 zł 1000 zł
1950-currency reform Series of 1948 The banknotes of the series of 1948 were designed by Polish painter and decorative artist Wacław Borowski. The introduction of these notes was part of the currency reform of 1950,The 1950 currency reform, i.e. let's take people's money so the banknotes had to be printed quickly and in secrecy; thus, printing works in Poland (PWPW), Czechoslovakia (STC), Hungary (Pénzjegynyomda), Sweden (Riksbankens Sedeltryckeri), and Canada (British American Bank Note Company Ltd.) were involved.
Series of 1948 Image Value Dimensions Description Date of Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse first printing issue withdrawal lapse 2 zł 120 mm × 58 mm Face value The design of the (then) future NBP building at Warsaw Insurgents Square in Warsaw 1 July 1948 30 October 1950 1 January 1960 30 June 1960 5 zł 142 mm × 67 mm Face value Farmer plowing a field with a tractor 10 zł 148 mm × 70 mm Portrait of a peasant (inspired by Mateusz Jóźwiak, the creator of cast printing matrices at PWPW) Peasants loading sheaves to a ladder wagon. 31 December 1965 30 June 1966 20 zł 160 mm × 76 mm Portrait of a woman in kerchief (nicknamed "Anielka"; the portrait was supposedly inspired by Helena Michalik (née Bujak), who was a friend of Wacław Borowski)Anielka - a mysterious worker from a banknote.Girl with a banknote Kraków Cloth Hall 30 June 1977 31 December 1977 50 zł 164 mm × 78 mm Portrait of a fisherman Port of Gdynia 30 June 1978 31 December 1978 100 zł 172 mm × 82 mm Portrait of a worker (a so-called "Pstrowski"; portrait inspired by Bronisław Tomaszewski, who was a driver at PWPW) View of a factory with smoking chimneys (probably Łódź) 30 June 1977 31 December 1977 500 zł 178 mm × 85 mm Portrait of a miner in helmet Underground mining scene 31 December 1977 30 June 1978
Series of 1974 The National Bank of Poland began to introduce banknotes with the faces of "Great Poles," and the series was first introduced on 16 December 1974 with the 500 Zloty note. As economic situations worsened, by the 1980s, higher and higher denominations were introduced, and in 1989, the 20,000 was adopted, which was equivalent to half of a wage of that time (65,000 zloty). By the end of 1989, a commemorative note was released into circulation, the 200,000 Zloty banknote, which is rather a numismatic product (which still has a huge price tag even today) than an actual banknote meant for everyday payments/transactions. In 1990, as wages were regulated to the actual value of the currency, new higher-denomination notes were released, such as the 500,000 Zloty note, which was worth 50 dollars, and then it was devalued to 30 dollars when a new exchange rate was finalized to prevent hyperinflation. At the end of 1993, new reworked editions of banknotes (50,000, 100,000, 500,000, one million, and two million zloty) were released, which also erased the old Polish People's Republic name from the 50,000 and 100,000 zloty banknotes in circulation. In 1994, the government stopped printing old Zloty notes in order to establish the Fourth Zloty by 1 January 1995. All of the banknotes together were withdrawn on 31 December 1996 and were no longer exchanged by 2010. 1974 Series Image Value Dimensions Colour Obverse Reverse PrintedWithdrawnObverseReverse 10 zł 139 x 63 mm Bluish green Józef Bem Indication of value 198231 December 1996 20 zł Multicoloured Romuald Traugutt Indication of value 1982 50 zł Green Karol Świerczewski Grunwald Cross Medal 1975,1979,1982, 1986,1988 100 zł Red Ludwik Waryński "Proletaryat" (19th century Polish socialist party) 1975,1976, 1979,1982,1986,1988 200 zł Violet Jarosław Dąbrowski Monument to the Dead (of the Paris Commune) by Paul Moreau-Vauthier in the Père Lachaise Cemetery 1976, 1979,1986,1988 500 zł Brown Tadeusz Kościuszko "Żywią i Bronią" (They feed and defend), flag of Polish soldiers in Kraków during the Kościuszko Uprising 1974,1976,1979,1982 1000 zł Blue Nicolaus Copernicus Heliocentric Solar System 1975,1979,1982 2000 zł Brown Mieszko I Bolesław I the Brave 1977,1979,1982 5000 zł Green Frédéric Chopin Polonaise notes 1982,1986, 1988 10 000 zł Green and violet Stanisław Wyspiański Kraków 1987,1988 20 000 zł Orange Maria Skłodowska-Curie Nuclear reactor "Ewa" near Warsaw 1989 50 000 zł Brown Stanisław Staszic The Staszic Palace in Warsaw 1989,1993 100 000 zł Blue Stanisław Moniuszko Teatr Wielki, Warsaw 1990,1993 200 000 zł Brown Coat of arms Warsaw 1989 500 000 zł Blue and brown Henryk Sienkiewicz "Trilogy" 1990,1993 1 000 000 zł Light brown Władysław Reymont Country landscape 1991,1993 2 000 000 zł Multicoloured Ignacy Jan Paderewski The 1919 Coat of arms of Poland 1992,1993These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world banknotes. See also Polish coins and banknotes Polish złoty
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