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1 Koruna Tuzex
| Issuer | Tuzex (Podnik Zahraničního Obchodu Praha) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1970-1976 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Tan and olive guilloche underprint covers the face, with a dark geometric border frame. The numeral "1" appears in a central cartouche at top, flanked by fine lathe-work panels. Text legends in Latin script are arranged in horizontal bands across the centre and lower field, with the issuer name at foot and printer imprint "STC" at bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Centrally positioned guilloche rosette watermark of scalloped oval form with fine lathe-work mesh pattern, visible when held to light. |
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| Comments |
Tuzex bony were not currency in any legal sense — they were internal foreign-exchange vouchers issued by the state-run hard-currency retail network, redeemable only at Tuzex shops stocked with Western goods unavailable through normal Czechoslovak retail. The system ran from 1957 onward, allowing the regime to extract hard currency from citizens who received remittances from abroad while maintaining the fiction that the socialist economy provided for all needs.
A secondary black market developed almost immediately. Veksláci — illegal currency traders — haunted hotel lobbies and train stations, buying bony from tourists and selling them at a premium to locals desperate for imported electronics, jeans, or alcohol. Possession of actual Western currency remained restricted; the bony were the permissible proxy.
The 1970–1976 series was printed by Státní Tiskárna Cenin, the same Prague security printer responsible for Czechoslovak banknotes proper.