The rarest item from contemporary paper money.
An early replacement series of YA known on the collectors' market currently, to our knowledge with only 3 pieces (the existence of three pieces we have confirmed, the rumor still says about the fourth piece, but we do not have it confirmed by number).
The YA series is missing from the Lucow Collection - the largest collection of Polish paper money.
The OneBid sales archive recorded only one piece in PMG 35 preservation condition and sold for PLN 28,500. It was a piece of the YA series number 0000939.
The banknote offered in this auction is with the number 0000589 - currently the lowest known 50 zloty YA number.
The YA series is the first replacement series printed in Warsaw of the 1994 issue. Printed still in the 1990s, it was then put into circulation, as part of regular issues. The Polish banknotes were modernized in 2012, thus successively withdrawing from circulation worn out pieces of previously issued series, as well as emptying to the bottom the vault stock of banknotes from before the modernization.
According to NBP reports, the durability in circulation of a PLN 50 bill from before the modernization is about 3 years. Durability is understood here as the period from the introduction of a given piece into circulation until its withdrawal due to circulation wear. The modernization implemented in 2012, followed by another in 2017, adding varnishing, extended this lifespan by about 50%.
The lower the denomination, the shorter the life in circulation of a given banknote. The 10 and 20 zloty denominations prior to the upgrade had a circulation life of only a few months to two years.
PWPW took over the printing of the 1994 issue banknotes in 1998, and the YA series was their first replacement series.
Not surprisingly, today we don't know of any pieces of 10 and 20 zlotys from their first Polish YA replacement series - the whole thing wore out in circulation and was withdrawn and destroyed from circulation even in the last century, before collectors even realized the nature of their replacement series.
It's no wonder that currently 50 zloty YA are known only 3 pcs!
Good thing they are known at all!
The 10 and 20 zl YA remain unknown to date. Given that they come from batches that, in accordance with the cycle of money circulation, have long since been withdrawn and destroyed, the chances of their appearance are very slim, just as the chances of another piece of 50 zloty YA appearing are slim.
The very existence of 10 and 20 zloty YA, in the absence of known pieces, remains purely hypothetical.
The existence of a replacement series of 50 zloty YA is currently confirmed by only 3 known and surviving pieces, including the one offered in this auction.
The offered banknote comes from a specialized collection of contemporary paper money, which we are currently offering at auction. It was acquired for it around 2006 and is now back for sale after more than 15 years.
Take the opportunity to buy it now - another piece may not appear for many years. This is trulya tremendous rarity.
