100 Złotych with PROLETARYAT overprint

This copy

Accession

OM-00166

Series year

1983

Actually issued

1983

Signatures

This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.

Grade

VG (IBNS)

Edge damage, heavy wear. Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not.

Estimated value

$1.5 indicative

Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-07.

Dimensions

133.8 × 63.2 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

Solidarity eraOverprintUnderground press

The type

Type

100 Złotych with PROLETARYAT overprint

Printer

Not established

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the issuing bank

Narodowy Bank Polski

National Bank of Poland

Symbology

Polish eagle, uncrowned

The People's Republic removed the crown from the eagle in 1945; it was restored in 1990.

What was happening

A circulating Polish banknote overprinted by the underground opposition of the 1980s.

Rubber-stamping ordinary money was a way of publishing where publishing was banned: the note keeps circulating, and the message travels with it through every hand it passes. These stamps commemorate the Proletaryat party of 1883 and carry the old slogan Za waszą wolność i naszą — "for your freedom and ours".

Whether a given overprint is a period Solidarity-era stamp or a later collector's restrike is not determinable from the note alone; treat the attribution as unconfirmed.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 100 Złotych with PROLETARYAT overprint in the collection.