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1 Dollar Foreign Exchange Certificate

Issuer Bank Polska Kasa Opieki SA (Bank Pekao SA)
Year 1960
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Shape Rectangular
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Obverse description Light green guilloche underprint with a central vertical teal band. The Pekao globe logo appears at top centre, below which the title BON TOWAROWY is printed in large bold letters. A central oval guilloche vignette frames the numeral 1 flanked by dollar signs, with the denomination JEDNEGO DOLARA below. Issuer name and date WARSZAWA, DNIA 1 STYCZNIA 1960 R. appear at the foot.
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Reverse lettering PEKAO
BONY TOWAROWE BANKU PKO S.A. NIE PODLEGAJĄ UMORZENIU I W ZAMIAN BONÓW UTRACONYCH BANK PKO S.A. NIE WYDAJE DOKUMENTÓW ZASTĘPCZYCH.
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Comments

Pewex — the state-run hard currency retail chain — was the primary circulation point for these certificates. The Polish government created this parallel currency system to capture foreign exchange held by citizens receiving remittances from relatives abroad, principally in the United States. Rather than letting dollars circulate informally, the state funneled them through Pekao SA, which issued these certificates redeemable only at Pewex stores stocking Western goods unavailable through normal socialist retail channels.

The certificates were not legal tender and could not be exchanged back into dollars. That asymmetry was the whole point.

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