Description and research notes
Bank Polski 1 Zloty note dated 28 February 1919, bearing series S.26C and serial number 070070. Designed, engraved, and printed shortly after Poland regained independence, the note formed part of the first zloty issue prepared for the restored Polish state.
Although produced in 1919, the note was held in reserve while the Polish marka remained the circulating currency. It entered public circulation in 1924 as part of the monetary reform introduced under Prime Minister Wladyslaw Grabski, when the new zloty replaced the inflation-damaged marka and Bank Polski became the central issuing institution.
The face presents a portrait of Tadeusz Kosciuszko within a circular engraved medallion at left. The Bank Polski title appears prominently above the denomination, with the date and printed signatures arranged across the lower central field. Dense geometric ornament surrounds the principal design elements and frames the denomination devices in each corner.
The reverse continues the violet ornamental scheme with the denomination expressed through a large central numeral and surrounding guilloche work. The compact format and clearly repeated value markings reflect the note's role as the lowest denomination of the inaugural zloty series.
The note was printed by Imprimerie Benoit Arnaud in Lyon, France. Its engraved portraiture, fine-line borders, layered underprinting, and compact security design document the contribution of French security printing to the first paper-money series prepared for independent Poland.
The serial number 070070 forms a radar-repeater pattern. Read as two repeated groups, 070 and 070, it gives the note a distinctive symmetrical serial structure while remaining part of the regular issued numbering system.
This note records two connected stages in the restoration of Polish monetary sovereignty: its preparation in 1919 following independence and its eventual release in 1924 during the Grabski currency reform. Series S.26C, serial 070070, preserves an individually identifiable example of the first Bank Polski 1 Zloty issued note.