In the early years of Poland's independence from the Russian Empire, the country had the currency of foreign states that replaced the occupying German East rubles and East kopecks. By decree of the Head of the Polish State, Jozef Pilsudski, dated February 5, 1919, it was decided to name the future Polish monetary unit "Lech," in honor of the legendary founder of Poland, and 1 penny was to become its hundredth part.
The war with Soviet Russia of 1919-1920 seriously undermined the country's economy. To get out of hyperinflation, the government carried out a monetary reform of 1924, as a result of which the zloty became the monetary unit of the Polish Republic. To develop the design of the coins, back in 1923 a competition was announced, in which more than 1400 projects of the future currency took part. Coin designs were developed by both eminent and anonymous authors. Of the total volume, the commission selected only a few projects developed by sculptors Tadeusz Breyer, Joseph Gardetsky, Wojciech Yastrzhebovsky, Stanislav Roman Lewandovsky, Jan Rashka, Vitold Rezgotsinsky and Jan Vysotsky.
The first coins of the line of negotiable coins with the date 1923 were minted according to the project of Wojciech Yastrzhebovsky.
Wojciech Jastrzebowski (1884-1963)
2 and 5 pennies in 1923 were issued on brass blanks, and in subsequent years these denominations, like 1 penny, were issued on bronze blanks.
Y # 8a, 1 penny 1937, bronze, 17.4 million ex. years 1923-1939
Y # 9, 2 pennies 1923, brass, 20.5 million ex. only year of manufacture
Y # 9a, 2 pennies 1931, bronze, 9.5 million exes, years 1925-1939
Y # 10, 5 pennies 1923, brass, 32 million ex. only year of manufacture
Y # 10a, 5 pennies 1939, bronze, 10 million exes, years 1925-1939
Nickel coins in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 pennies were issued with only one date - "1923."
Y # 11, 10 pennies 1923, nickel, 100 million equivalent, single year of manufacture
Y # 12, 20 pennies 1923, nickel, 150 million exes, only year of manufacture
Y # 13, 50 pennies 1923, nickel, 100 million exes, only year of manufacture
On the obverse of all coins issued at the Warsaw Mint since 1925, there must be a mint sign - an image of an arrow from Koscesh - the Polish noble coat of arms.
The senior denominations of 1 and 2 zlotys were issued according to the project of Tadeusz Breyer, who, in addition, received the title of professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw for this project.
Tadeusz Breuer (1874-1852)
Coins made in the same style depict a woman in a headscarf against a background of ears of corn. Numismatists call this type - "kerchief." Coins in denominations of 1 zloty were ordered at the Paris (1924) and London (1925) mints, and coins in denominations of 2 zlotys at the Paris, Birmingham, Philadelphia (1924), London, Philadelphia (1925) mints.
Y # 15, 1 zloty 1925, silver 0.750, 24 million ex. years of production 1924-1925
In 1927, these coins were officially withdrawn from circulation and replaced with nickel zloty .
Y # 14, 1 zloty 1929, nickel, 32 million exes.
Coins with the date 1929 were issued from 1928 to 1938 according to the project of the artist Milos Kotarbinsky .
Miloš Kotarbiński (1854-1944)
In 1925, the Warsaw Mint announced another competition for the development of coin design. The second prize went to the sculptor Anton Madeisky for the portrait of a woman against the background of diverging ears.
Anton of Madea (1862-1939)
According to the author, this portrait personifies Polonia - the collective image of a Polish woman. But, due to the fact that Anton Madeysky in 1902 performed the tombstone of Queen Jadwiga in the Wawel Castle, many call this type of coin the same - "Jadwiga," mistakenly believing that they also depict the Queen.
Tombstone in the tomb of Queen Jadwiga, Krakow, Wawel Castle, 1902.
In fact, the prototype of "Polonia" was a longtime acquaintance of the sculptor Yanina Morshtynov - the wife of the Polish military attache in Rome, writer Ludwik Heronim Morshtynov.
Yanina Morshtynova (top left)
Coins in denominations of 2, 5 and 10 zlotys were issued within three years - from 1932 to 1934.
Y # 20, 2 zlotys 1932, silver 0.750, 15.7 M ex, production years 1932-1934
Y # 21, 5 zlotys 1934, silver 0.750, 250 thousand copies, years of production 1932-1934
Y # 22, 10 zlotys 1933, silver 0.750, 2.8 million exes, years of production 1932, 1933
In 1933, Poland celebrated two significant dates - 250 years of the victory of the Christian army over the Turks near Vienna (Battle of Vienna) and 70 years of the January uprising of the Poles against the Russian authorities. The general director of the Warsaw Mint announced a closed competition for the creation of a project of commemorative coins dedicated to iconic personalities for these events. There were eight participants in the competition. By the decision of the mint jury, the first award for the portrait of the rebel general Romuald Traugutt was received by Tadeusz Breyer, the author of the first Polish silver kerchiefs. The second place for the portrait of Jan Sobieski went to Wojciech Yastrzebowski, who at one time developed the design of Polish pre-war exchange coins in denominations of 1 to 50 pennies .
Nevertheless, the final decision on whose project will be implemented on commemorative coins was made by the current Minister of Finance Vladislav Zavadsky, who, contrary to the decision of the jury, approved the projects that received the third prize. This is a portrait of Traugutt by the sculptor Sophia Trzyczynska-Kaminska and a portrait of Jan Sobieski by the sculptor Jan Vysotsky.
Jan Wysocki (1873-1960)
The issue of the coin with the profile of Jan Sobieski took place on September 9, 1933 . According to historians, Poland during his reign influenced the alignment of political forces in Europe. Skillfully concluded treaties, blood ties and political instinct, allowed Poland and its allies to dominate Western Europe for some time.
Jan III Sobieski, years of life 1629-1696, years of reign 1674-1696.
Y # 23, 10 zlotys 1933, silver 0.750, 300 thousand exes.
A couple more commemorative coins dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the formation of the Polish legions .
Y # 25, 5 zlotys 1934, silver 0.750, 300 thousand exes.
Y # 26, 10 zlotys 1934, silver 0.750, 300 thousand exes.
A little bit of history. In 1892, in Paris, four Polish socialist groups merged into the "Union Abroad of Polish Socialists," which in 1893 was transformed into the Polish Socialist Party (P.P.S.). In 1906, a "revolutionary faction" led by Józef Piłsudski, which held extremely radical nationalist and anti-Russian views, separated from the Party. In Galicia, the "faction" organized a school in which they taught military affairs to patriotic youth, who subsequently committed terrorist attacks against the Russian administration, pro-Russian officials and police officers. These units were called the "Streletsky Union" and "Polish Streletsky squads." The very next day, after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Pilsudski announces the mobilization of archers and on August 2, 1914 sends the formed "First Personnel Company" to the disposal of the Austro-Hungarian command. August 16, 1914 is considered the date of foundation of the "Polish Legion," from which, subsequently, the Polish regular army was formed - the Polish Army. Let's not forget that the "legionnaires" took an active part in the battles against the Russian army in the First World War, and the soldiers of the Polish Army, between the two world wars, managed to fight quite successfully with their neighbors: Soviet Russia, Lithuania and Czechoslovakia. According to some historians, the shooting of Polish prisoners of war in Katyn in 1940 was Stalin's revenge for the defeat of Soviet Russia in the war with Poland in 1919-1921.
Have you noticed that the eagle depicted on the obverse of the coin does not have a crown, as on the state emblem of the Polish Republic of that period?
This is a cockade of the Streltsov military formations. The difference from the "Legionnaires" cockade in the Latin letter under the eagle: for archers "S," for legionnaires "L" (after 1914).
On the reverse of the coin is the profile of Jozef Pilsudski, the founder of the "legions" in a military uniform.
From 1918 to 1922 he led the Republic, and from 1926 to 1935 he was in senior leadership positions: he was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Inspector General of the Polish Armed Forces, Minister of Military Affairs. Pilsudski died in 1935 from liver cancer. The funeral was attended by delegations from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Romania and the USSR.
The coin design of this issue was by the famous Polish sculptor and engraver Stanisław Kazimierz Wacław Ostrowski (1879-1947).
This image is probably familiar to you from the line of silver coins 2, 5 and 10 zlotys, produced in the Polish Republic from 1934 to 1939. Note that this commemorative coin has the year of issue listed on the bottom right below the portrait. For coins of regular issue, the year is indicated on the obverse, under the coat of arms of the Republic.
Y # 27, 2 zlotys 1934, silver 0.750, 10.4 mln ecz, years of issue 1934, 1936
Y # 28, 5 zlotys 1935, silver 0.750, 1.8 M ex, years 1934-1938
Y # 29, 10 zlotys 1935, silver 0.750, 1.7 M ex, years 1934-1939
The following coins are dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the founding of the port of Gdynia. After the First World War, Poland was in dire need of access to the Baltic Sea, because Gdansk, which received the status of a "Free City," was not included in Poland. On the site of the fishing village of the same name, it was decided to build a new port.
Y # 30, 2 zlotys 1936, silver 0.750, 3.9 M ex, single year of issue
Y # 31, 5 zlotys 1936, silver 0.750, 1 M ex, single year of issue
The author of the project is medalist and sculptor Joseph Aumiller.
Josef Aumiller (1892-1963)
The coin depicts one of the attractions of the city - the sailing ship "Gift of Pomerania." Launched from German shipyards in 1909 under the name "Princess Eitel Friedrich," the sailboat lived an interesting "ship" life and eventually became a floating museum.
Frigate "Gift of Pomerania," circa 1920.
However, some experts argue that the appearance of the sails and masts of the vessel is most likely the Polish training sailing ship Lviv.
Silver coins of Poland were withdrawn from circulation on the basis of the order of the Ministers of Economy, Finance and Internal Affairs of the Third Reich of November 22, 1939, which ordered them to be replaced with paper money without fail.
The last pre-war design design competition for coins was held in 1938. Its goal was to update the design of the line of small bargaining coins, as well as the release of new ten-piece coins with an issue date of 1934. But the outbreak of World War II intervened in the plans.
The only coin that did see the light of day was 50 pennies with a date of 1938, issued already during the German occupation. The reverse of the coin remained unchanged - the same, pre-war design of Wojciech Yastrzebowski. But the obverse is new - an eagle by Joseph Aumiller.
Y # 38, 50 pennies 1938, iron, 32 million exes, single year of manufacture
You can see this coin, as well as coins issued by the Germans during the Second World War in the old design, but already on zinc blanks here.