In the late 1980s, banknotes with high inflationary nominal values were in circulation in the socialist People’s Republic of Poland. Following the collapse of the ‘Eastern Bloc’ and the foundation of the Republic of Poland, banknotes were given a new appearance, but the problem of inflation continued to exist. A currency reform was implemented in 1995. In the run-up to this reform, new banknotes had already been commissioned from the German printing works Giesecke & Devrient. However, this “city series” was never issued. Not only were the security features (watermarks, security threads, fluorescent fibres in the paper, Braille code) felt to be inadequate, the design of the banknotes (the same format but without portraits) also met with a negative response in many cases. The “city series” was put into storage shortly after production and later destroyed. A small number with the overprint NIEOBIEGOWY (not for circulation) were released for the collectors’ market.
