Planned Kingdom of Poland 1916-1918

During the Worldwar 1st, the empire of Germany and Austria-Hungary decided to found a Polish Kingdom. The territory should have been the cut of areas of the Russian Empire.The Polish were not told to have a right of sovereignty; it was only a sanction against Russia. In 1916 the German Empire proclaim the Kingdom of Poland. In order to the wartime events, the proclamation had no more effects and in 1918 the Republic of Poland was founded.

 

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Only to be conquered again in 1939 by the Nazis and Soviets.

 

The rarest coin within this zinc coated iron series, is the 1917 1 Fenig. There are references that mention a fire at the Stuttgart Mint, which destroyed most of its mintage. The only known remains are trial strikes or heavily damaged and corroded pieces. If you do find a nice, shiny, mint 1917 1 Fenig coin, it probably came from AliExpress and is a fake...


The rest of this series is readily available. However, many die variations, die cracks, double dies, etc. exist. It was minted in a very primitive fashion, is a fun series to dive into and has its own types and varieties catalog. I still have a lot to learn.

 

Really? In that case, I'm amazed that they had the time and resources to mint 1939 coinage.

 

I meant 1939.

 

Not quite sure why this turned into a WW2 topic (of course 1939 is right), but the coins issued in those years are confusing, date wise. For occupied Poland, the nazis would mint existing denominations again, with various dates: 1 grosz 1939, 5 gr '39 (now with a hole), 10 and 20 groszy 1923, and 50 groszy 1938 ...

Christian

 

Nice thread. Unfortunately, I've got no coins from the Polish Kingdom 1916-1918. Here is an earlier Polish coin & a later Polish coin. .

1840 1 Groszy


1932 10 Zlotych

 

that queen Jawdiga is probably my favorite design for Poland. I did the 2,5, and 10 denomination set. great looking coin in UNC. the 10 zlotych denomination is getting harder and harder to find in UNC. even harder finding in BU grades.

 

That 10 Zlotych coin has an intriguing portrait. Is it a real person, or a personification?

 

not sure. ??? good question. I am guessing real.

 

I can post more Polish coins but they are not 1916-1918.

1925 2 Zlotych

1933 5 Zlotych

1938 10 Zlotych

 

That last coin is how I imagine Doug (GDJMSP).

 

that grade on that 2nd coin is truly amazing. you can tell by the wear on the head band. great coin.

 

The woman on those 2 to 10 zł coins is supposed to be "Polonia", thus a personification of the country. The misattribution (Queen Jadwiga) has something to do with the designer Antoni Madeyski who had, a couple of years before, also designed Queen Jadwiga's sarcophagus (in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków). Apparently the two women look somewhat similar ...

Here is a Wikipedia page that shows both the sarcophagus and the coin. Another one is here. (Both are in Polish though.) Some background info in English, not so much about the portrait though, can be found in this brochure (PDF) published by the Polish central bank when it issued it as a "coin on a coin".

Christian

 

Yep. The first lady coin I posted has wear & cleaning issues. The second lady coin posted is Unc. IMO it is dripping with prettyness.

I was interested to learn that the lady may not be Queen Jadwiga as described in the Krause catalog. Jadwiga was actually crowned "king" and not "queen" back in the 1300s. I believe it was intended to make it clear that she was the monarch & not the spouse of the monarch. Perhaps someone at CT that really knows the history could chime-in here.

 

Sorry Coins-of-Germany, I tried to stay on topic for you.

Yes, but didn't they use crappy metals for those? That makes them easy to differentiate from the rest. I'm sure they grabbed as many silver coins as possible, melted them down and replaced them with zinc, nickel, etc.

 

thanks for that correction. I always wondered myself.

 

this was taken from another Poland thread....more info about the 'Polonia" coin design:

Below is a nice set of "replica" coins issued by the Polish Mint in 2006 in the design, size, and denominations for which the original Madeyski design was submitted.

The woman's head design was submitted for a competition in 1925 as the design for new gold pieces in denominations of 10, 20, 50, and 100 Zlotych. The design didn't see any use until 1932, and was used on silver coinage in 1932-34 (in modified form with legend text moved to the eagle side).

Even though the woman pictured is NOT that of Queen Jadwiga, this design has been referred to as that for many years. In truth, the depiction of the beautiful woman was titled “Polonia” (Poland in Latin, and the word used for the personification of Poland), and was meant to represent the idealized image of the Polish community. She was crowned with a wreath of clover, symbolic of happiness and prosperity, but also of the Holy Trinity and the contemporary Christian character of the Polish State. The sun’s rays were symbolic of triumph and glory, and a harbinger of further glory; whereas the ears of grain (wheat) emphasized the importance of agriculture to the national economy and a source of prosperity and abundance.

 

One of the most famous Poles of all time would have to be Marie Curie. When Marie was born in Warsaw, it was part of Russia and she attended school in Krakow which was part of Germany. The first element she discovered she named after the still non-existant Poland - Polonium. Unfortunately the element had essentially no uses and was not good publicity for restarting Poland as a country.

 

An unusual communist era silver coin. Celebrating 30 years of tyranny.