Catalog
1 Koruna Československá
| Issuer | Tuzex, Podnik Zahraničního Obchodu, Prague |
|---|---|
| Year | 1960 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is otherwise blank white paper, its centre occupied by a large guilloche rosette vignette of intricate lace-like geometric design printed in olive-gold, serving as the primary anti-counterfeiting element. The thinness of the paper stock allows the obverse letterpress text to show through faintly as a mirror image. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Guilloche |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Tuzex was Czechoslovakia's state-run hard currency retail network — a chain of shops where goods unavailable through normal socialist distribution could be purchased, but only with Tuzex bony, the scrip certificates issued in exchange for foreign currency surrendered to the state. These were not banknotes in any central bank sense; they were internal accounting instruments for a parallel economy designed to capture remittances from Czechs abroad and soak up foreign exchange from diplomats and tourists.
The 1960 series replaced an earlier postwar issue as the Tuzex network expanded. Possession of these certificates by ordinary citizens without a sanctioned source of foreign currency was technically illegal, which gave the bony a shadow-market premium and made them actively traded on the black market throughout the normalization period.