10 Cents Foreign Exchange Certificate

Bank Pekao's Foreign Exchange Certificates were a mechanism for extracting hard currency from Poles receiving remittances from abroad — dollars, deutschmarks, and other Western currencies could not circulate freely, so the state channeled them through Pekao, issuing these scrip-like certificates in exchange. Holders could then spend them at Pewex stores, the regime's chain of hard-currency shops stocking Western goods unavailable through normal socialist retail.

The 1979 series replaced an earlier Pekao bon system and remained in use until 1990. Small denominations like this one circulated heavily and are consequently harder to find in decent condition than the higher values.