The Paper That Built Poland: Stock Certificates from the 19th–20th Centuries
On April 13, 2026, at 5:00 p.m., the Museum of Papermaking in Duszniki-Zdrój will host the opening of the temporary exhibition “The Paper That Built Poland: 19th–20th Century Stock Certificates.” The exhibition will feature several dozen securities—shares of Polish companies from the collection of Tomasz Staniszewski, representing various industries.
These documents are of unique value not only as evidence of economic life in Poland, but also as works of applied art of high artistic merit. Thanks to the exceptional quality of their graphic design, historic Polish stock certificates are today considered among the most beautiful in Europe.
Although the names of the designers are unknown for most of them, there are exceptions in this field. One such example is the share certificate of the “Polska Ruda Żelazna” company, issued in 1923. The artwork for it was designed by Józef Mehoffer himself. The involvement of this eminent artist in creating the visual design for securities serves as a testament to the harnessing of art in the service of capital and to how, in the interwar period, art permeated all spheres of life.
During the opening, Prof. Dr. Tomasz Głowiński, will deliver a lecture titled “The History of Joint-Stock Companies.”
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