Poland to release new 500-zloty note in 2017

By Arthur L. Friedberg

Published: Jun 26, 2016, 4 AM

The Polish National Bank said June 6 that a new 500-zloty note (the equivalent of $128) will enter circulation in February 2017 with a portrait of King Jan III Sobieski.

Image courtesy of Polish National Bank.

A year after it was announced, the Polish National Bank (Narodowy Bank Polski) said on June 6 that a new 500-zloty note (the equivalent of $128) will enter circulation in February 2017. The bank note will complete the “Rulers of Poland” series with a profile portrait of King Jan (John) III Sobieski, who reigned from 1674 to 1696. The back has Poland’s coat of arms with the imperial eagle and one of the country’s most important monuments, the Wilanow Palace in Warsaw.

This concludes a bank note redesign that began in 2014 with the issue of the first four notes — a 10-zloty note (Prince Mieszko I), a 20-zloty note (the first Polish king, Boleslaus the Brave), a 50-zloty note (Casimir III the Great) and a 100-zloty note (Ladislaus II Jagiello). A 200-zloty note with Sigismund I was issued this past February.

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The bank claims that the modernization of its currency to include all the latest in security measures resulted in a significant drop in counterfeits. It says that more than 1.77 billion bank notes now circulate in Poland and it has recorded only 4.6 false bank notes per million, about half the number in previous years.

The new series of notes were all designed by Andrzej Heidrich and are produced for the National Bank by the Polish Security Printing Works SA.

Detailed descriptions of all of Poland’s bank notes and coins are on the bank’s website.