Extremely rare banknote, and the first and only listing of the original pattern of the 1941 5 zloty with zero numbering.
A pattern that theoretically should exist, but has not been discovered so far, like the other patterns with an issue date of 1941. Nevertheless, in the archive of our auctions we have already had the pleasure of hosting two patterns with zero numbering, the 50 zloty 1941 A 0000000 (sale price 10350 zloty Auction V 2020), the 100 zloty 1941 A8900000/A1234567 (sale price 8496 zloty Auction VII 2021) All these banknotes are united by their origin, which lends credence to the existence of these extremely rare, singular patterns.
The offered piece is, in our opinion, the first known and correct MODEL 5 zloty with the issue date of 1941. Zero numbering and three times perforated MODEL. The typeface of the letter A and the numerator digits are not objectionable and are similarly positioned on the banknote field as on the 1940 issue patterns.
The originality of the design lends credence to its provenance. The banknote comes from a small archival find from Germany, which included several 1940 and 1941 occupation patterns, among them a raisin from 1941 with zero numbering, which is the subject of this auction.
We are not aware of any attempts to counterfeit the zero-numbered pattern.
As of today, this coin represents a true UNIQUE, which will adorn the most advanced collections of Polish banknotes.
In September 1939, due to the aggression of Nazi Germany against Poland, the Bank of Poland with its Government and President evacuated outside the borders of the Second Republic. In view of the lack of cash reserves, deposits in the giro accounts of the Bank of Poland were frozen. As a result of this action, private banks and savings banks could not maintain solvency, and the population lost access to their cash deposits held in accounts.
The evacuation of the Bank caused a severe gap in the Polish economic apparatus. Consequently, as early as October 1939, the economic spheres began to demand the establishment of another issuing institution to take over the duties of the Polish Bank.
When, in November 1939, the first talks took place between representatives of the Polish economic spheres and the occupation authorities on the creation of a new issuing institution, Feliks Młynarski put forward the demand that the appearance of the graphic design of the new paper money should be similar to that of the interwar zlotys, and that there should be inscriptions only in Polish. Mlynarski also postulated that the name of the issuing institution should include the phrase "in Poland."
After the Third Reich's aggression against the Soviet Union, the Germans expanded the General Government. At that time, a second series of paper money entered circulation with an issue date of August 1, 1941. This symbolically commemorated the date Galicia was incorporated into the General Government. Of the five denominations, only the top two were affected by the redesign. The last banknote to be issued by the Emission Bank in Poland was the 100 zloty issued on August 1, 1941. There were plans to issue a denomination of 1,000 zlotys, but they did not come to fruition due to the course of hostilities.
