February 2, 2017 – In 2016, the Polish Mint celebrated the 250th anniversary of its foundation. After King Stanislaus Poniatowski decided to establish a mint in Warsaw in 1766, the Polish Mint, however, was not permanently in operation. Its work was interrupted at regular intervals by the various foreign powers that controlled Poland. In 1868, for example, the Russian Tsar closed the Polish Mint and had the equipment moved to the Mint of St Petersburg. And during their retreat in 1944, the Germans blew up the Mint, thus terminating coin production, which was only resumed under Communist control.
Today the Mint of Poland Mennica Polska is housed in a modern building. Photo: Alina Zienowicz / CC BY-SA 3.0
There are probably only few nations in which the mint is so closely connected with national independence as in Poland. Therefore, it was self-evident that, after the founding of the third Polish Republic in 1989, a new Mint, with state-of-the-art technology, should be constructed. But even before the new building was officially inaugurated on 26 September 1994, the Polish government converted the Mint into a stock corporation, effective 1 April 1994, whose shares were initially fully owned by the Treasury.
This allowed the Polish Mint to operate as a self-responsible profit centre. Already in the very first years of its existence, it achieved several successes. In 1995, it issued the first Polish bullion coin and, in 1996, produced blanks for Lithuania as well as a new coin series for Ukraine. Bet the order for the production of Polish coins does not necessarily go to the Mint. Instead, it is an international competition.
On 6 February 1998, permission was granted to trade the shares of the Polish Mint on the Stock Exchange. On 7 April 1998, the shares were quoted for the first time. Since then, the shares in the Polish Mint have been freely tradable and highly popular.
After all, in its home country the Mennica Polska is a model for the successful privatisation of a formerly state-owned enterprise. It was elected Company of the Year in 2006 and Company of the Past 20 Years in 2010 by the Polish Business Club Association. In 2013, Forbes listed the Polish Mint as one of the world’s most dynamic public companies.
Today the majority of shares is held by Polish entrepreneur Zbigniew Jakubas. The state itself holds no longer any shares in the previously state-owned company.
More information about the Mint of Poland is to be found at its website.
Especially the recent history is well documented in the section about the history of the Polish Mint.
For those who think about investing in the Polish Mint, there is a lot of information about the yearly outcome.
Investor Zbigniew Jakuba is Chairman of the Polish Mint’s Supervisory Board.
Please find an interview with the head of the Polish Mint, Grzegorz Zambrzycki, about the advantages of a privately owned mint. Ross MacDiarmid from the Royal Australian Mint is talking about the advantages of a state owned mint in this article.
This article was first published in Mint News Quarterly 03 / 2016. Mint News Quarterly is issued by Currency News in association with Monea. Editor is Ursula Kampmann.