Zloty of the free city of Krakow

The free city of Krakow, created in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Congress in 1815, received the right to mint its own coins. But since the city was in the monetary union the Kingdom of Poland , ^[1] coins minted in Warsaw by the Russian authorities on the territory of Krakow, and Krakow did not exercise its right until 1835. After the Polish uprising of 1830 , the Russian authorities decided to remove the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Poland (a shield with a Polish white eagle on the chest of the Russian double-headed eagle) from the coins. Since 1834, the emblem of the Russian Empire was placed on the obverse of coins for Poland ^{[2] [3]} .

In 1835, the Senate of the Free City, under pressure from citizens who refused to accept new coins, decided to mint its own coin. The introduction of its own coin was a kind of protest against the removal of the Polish symbol from the coins. In total, three silver denominations were put into circulation:

• 5 pennies weighing 1.45 g. (Circulation of 180,000 pieces)
• 10 pennies weighing 2.90 g. (Circulation of 150,000 pieces)
• 1 zloty weighing 3.20 g (circulation of 20,000 pieces)

New coins were minted at the Vienna Mint ^[4] . It was also planned to introduce a copper coin in 2 pennies and a silver coin in 2 zlotys, but for various reasons this did not happen. The new denominations were clearly not enough for a full-fledged monetary circulation, and coins of the Kingdom of Poland were also in use in Krakow. Also, Krakow did not have the right to issue his own banknotes, and on his territory there were bank notes of the Kingdom of Poland.

New coins were in circulation for only 12 years, in 1846 Krakow was occupied by Austria-Hungary, and the Austrian currency was introduced on the territory of the city. 1 Austrian florin was equal to 4 Krakow zloty.

The purchasing power of Krakow zloty can be estimated at the prices of urban carpenters. Making a table with a drawer cost 18 zlotys, making 12 chairs 175 zlotys, a bureau with two drawers 48 zlotys.

Currently, the coins of the Free City of Krakow are the subject of interest for collectors.

• Tadeusz Kałkowski: Tysiąc lat monety polskiej , Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1974,
• Czesław Kamiński, Edmund Kopicki: Katalog monet polskich 1764-1864 , KAW, Warszawa 1977,
• Chester Krause, Clifford Mishler: Standard Catalog of World Coins, 19th Century Edition, 1801-1900 , Iola 1997, ISBN 0-87341-427-6