Mint in Building of Emperor’s Spirit Monopoly
Right after Poland regained independence a need to carry out a monetary reform and to start a new mint arose. In 1918 the country had four currencies: the German Mark, the Austrian Crown, the Emperor’s Ruble and the Polish Mark (i.e. the currency of the Kingdom of Poland). Already in 1920 the Seym of the Republic of Poland established the Polish Mark as the only valid currency of the country. During an economic crisis in 1923 Władysław Grabski became the Prime Minister. He reformed the finances of the country and established the Bank of Poland which was the issuer of the new currency – the Polish Zloty.
In times in which the situation changed constantly, it was necessary to establish a company which would produce legal coins. Already on April 14th, 1924 a new mint in Warsaw was started. It was located in the premises of the emperor’s spirit monopoly in the District of Praga at Markowska Street. Machines guaranteeing carrying out a full production cycle, starting from melting precious metals, through rolling the bars, cutting discs, minting coins and ending with segregation and counting the ready products worked for almost a year in the mint. In the press there were machines which could mint 100 coins per minute (today’s presses can mint as many as 780 coins per minute). Two years later in the company’s premises a Numismatic Cabinet was created. It was a museum of Polish mints. In 1934 it already had almost 18 thousand items. Till 1939 the mint became a very stable company which was recognized in the whole world.
