20 zlotys – a template

The 1926 20-zloty banknote is, in a sense, a special case. Issued by the Bank of Poland, it became a high-circulation showpiece. It was all thanks to Zygmunt Kamiński, who designed the layout of the banknote. This outstanding graphic artist and painter, who designed, among other things, the current coat of arms of Poland, decided to put images of the Bank of Poland's headquarters on the reverse of the banknote. On the left, he depicted the facade of the building in which the institution was established in 1828. On the right, there is an image of the building at 10 Bielańska Street in Warsaw, where the new premises of the Bank were located in 1924. In this way, the banknote shows a brief history of this extremely meritorious institution. Bank Polski was established for the first time in 1828. Its establishment reflected the great autonomy that the Kingdom of Poland enjoyed at that time within the Russian Empire. Due to tsarist repressions after the January Uprising, it gradually lost its importance, and finally, in 1885, it became a branch of the Russian State Bank. After World War I and the restoration of independence, it became clear that Poland needed an issuing institution. In the first years, this role was fulfilled by the Polish National Loan Fund (Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa), but as an institution established in 1916 by the German occupying authorities, it was not very suitable to fulfil its role in the new reality. Therefore, already at the beginning of 1919, a decision was taken to establish Bank Polski, but the time of the struggle for borders and the economic difficulties of the post-war years were not favourable to the undertaking. Eventually, the Bank was established on 15 April 1924, but it commenced operations on 28 April, i.e., on the day of the implementation of the corrective measures commonly referred to as the Grabski reform.

The 20-zloty banknotes, issued on 1 March 1926, entered circulation exactly one year later, and remained in circulation until 31 December 1934. The exchange deadline was 30 June 1939. On 1 September 1929 it was decided to re-issue them in an almost unchanged form. Apart from a different date, the differences came down to an improvement in the quality of printing and minor corrections in colouring. With the change in the position of Bank President, Stanisław Karpiński was replaced by Władysław Wróblewski, one of the signatures on the obverse of the banknote also changed.

Leszek Poniewozik