Poland: 5 zl commems to replace special 2 zl issues

[chrisild]

Seems there are plans in Poland to cease issuing the special 2 złote coins, and introduce commemorative 5 złotych pieces, next year. Elsewhere I came across this article (in Polish) which, according to machine translation experts , suggests that. Those special 2 zł coins have always had an "in between" position: They are issued at face, but their specifications do not match those of the regular 2 zł circulation coins.

The new commemorative 5 zł pieces would have the same size, weight and bimetallic appearance as the 5 zł circulation coins. Drawback for collectors: If the number of issues per year remains unchanged, it would become a little more expensive to collect them ...

Christian

[Bimat]

15+ bimetallic issues every year? Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Aditya

[chrisild]

Well, Poland has been an EU member for almost ten years, but I don't think the country will join the euro area any time soon. However, such a move - commemorative coins with the same technical specifications as the corresponding circulation coins - would indeed bring them closer to what various neighbors have been doing.

As for the number of issues, we'll see. According to the article (I misunderstood that first), the 16 coins refer to the entire series, but only two would be issued per year. Mintage 1.2 million each ...

Christian

[Figleaf]

Two issues a year, where before they had one every two months or so (it felt more like every week). It does seem like an approach to the euro. Not that the Poles would be a force for progress and improvement...

Peter

[Ukrainii Pyat]

I wonder, does Poland or Canada issue more proverbial numismatic crap?  I think you dumb down what you are supposed to commemorate when you commemorate relatively unimportant stuff.

[chrisild]

Here is the issue schedule, in Polish, for 2014:
http://www.nbp.pl/banknoty_i_monety/pliki/plan2014.pdf
(Update - see the link in reply #10 for the English version)

I attached the file (PDF, 3 pages) as two images, but they are a little blurry. The file at the central bank's site will be easier for your eyes but one never knows how long the URL will be valid. As you can see, there will be three more 2 zł coins (issued at face but different from the circulation pieces), in January, February and April.

23 Jan: Sochi 2014 Olympics
24 Feb: Animals - Konik (pony)
24 Apr: Jan Karski born 100 years ago

After that, it will be 5 zł coins (plus silver and gold issues as before). And those fivers will have the same technical specifications as the regular pieces, so they could actually circulate.

Christian

[chrisild]

As for the number of issues next year, don't hold your breath. The schedule is subject to change. The positive aspect is, there will be circulating commems. If that reminds you of the euro area, well, other countries have such a setup too. Euro wise, you should simply forget Poland. But the idea to do away with the 2 zł coins that are issued at face but different from the "real things", that sure is a good idea.

Christian

[chrisild]

Here is a press release published by the NBP (central bank) about the new "commem policy". It is in Polish; have not seen this in English so far. http://www.nbp.pl/home.aspx?f=/aktualnosci/wiadomosci_2013/20131030_kom_strategia.html

If your Polish is as good as mine, try Google's or Bing's translation. But while searching for an English equivalent, I did find the 2014 issue plan in English. Here we go: http://www.nbp.pl/en/banknoty/kolekcjonerskie/plan_2014_en.pdf

Christian

[ford.ka]

I'm afraid you miss a point in the story.
250 different 2 zlote coins have been issued so far. With average mintages of 1 milion it makes 250 milion coins (or 2000 tones of metal) which... don't circulate. They are different in size and metal from the regular 2 zlote coins (no use for vending machines) and with so many types it is difficult to tell which are real. I know, the latter may sound crazy but we've also experienced a fashion for "local coins" - struck in the same metal and often of similar size. Consequently, people don't want to risk accepting a "local coin" (which is in circulation only for a limited period of time and then worthless unless as a collector's item) instead of a real coin and they refuse these 2 zloty commemoratives.
We had a coin craze to about 2007/2008 when investing in coins seemed a reasonable choice and some of the 2 zlote coins went up in price. Consequently, although most people could not afford to buy golden or silver commemoratives they bought the brass (well, Golden Nordic officially) ones because it was a perfect risk free investment. If you could sell them for more, it was your gain. If you couldn't, you could always get your money back from the bank, they are legal tender after all.
Now that it became obvious that out of 250 only 20 are moderately rare and there is no demand for the others whatsoever (most people who caught the virus in the 1990s gave up when these coins were issued every three weeks), these coins are flowing back to the National Bank of Poland and there is no way to make them circulate. It is just like the US presidential 1 dollar coins - last year they gave up producing them in quantity and strike them for collectors only. The Bank tried to cut down the mintages (from 1,2 to 0,8 milion) but it didn't help so the 2 zlote coins had to go.
The euro connection (two bimetallic commemoratives yearly) is just a PR attempt to hide the fact that due to the Bank's greediness and various people who had access to the Bank's authorities, supporting various crazy events which desperately needed commemorating (85th anniversary of the State Police??? City of Mława??? City of Trzemeszno with 7840 inhabitants or Miechów with 11,500???) the popular coin collecting in Poland, which had started back in the 1960s with one coin per year was ultimately killed off.

[Figleaf]

This all sounds extremely likely. I wonder if the authorities have learned the lesson and will apply them to the new fivers, though. Political pressure will not go away and neither does greed, which can be tamed only by fear.

Peter

[chrisild]

I'm afraid you miss a point in the story.
250 different 2 zlote coins have been issued so far. With average mintages of 1 milion it makes 250 milion coins (or 2000 tones of metal) which... don't circulate.

-- which is why I like the idea to stop issuing those non-conforming 2 złote coins. We do have quite a few topics about them, and about the fact that they do not circulate the way regular "twoers" are used. Side note: I have quite a few of them; if there is a theme or design that I find interesting, I may well buy it. After all, I do not intend to shlep them to Poland later - they will end up in my collection. (Similarly, many collectors outside the euro area will not care about the difference between "actual" euro coins and country-specific collector coins; the latter circulate about as much as the monochrome 2 zł coins, hehe.)

So if the NBP will soon start issuing special fivers instead - coins that, apart from the commemorative designs, are just like the regular 5 zł coins - , wouldn't that be a good thing? People can collect them if they want, but they may also be used in everyday life. Sounds good to me ...

Christian

[Figleaf]

Received these right after Christmas (one coin didn't make it on the scan, they are mainly 2012 and 2013). I guess I'll still miss them a little bit.

Peter

[Bimat]

Very nice coins! I'm not collecting all of these (just too many as Pabitra already noted), but I'm looking for the 'animals' series (one 2 zl commemorative per year). Most of the earlier issues from that series are very hard to find now... (Read: Expensive )

Aditya

[Figleaf]

Expect them to become cheaper. See reply #9

Peter

[chrisild]

By the way, in reply #8, I posted the NBP's issue schedule for 2014. See how there is no info yet about a certain coin that could come in April? (Clip attached.) Well ... April 2014 is when two Roman Catholic popes will be canonized. And one of them is John Paul II ... hmm.

Christian