1000 Korun

Max Švabinský was one of the most prominent Czech graphic artists of the twentieth century — his involvement here was not a bureaucratic appointment but a deliberate institutional choice to anchor the highest-denomination note in serious fine art tradition. Karel Wolf's engraving translates Švabinský's compositional style into intaglio with considerable fidelity, an unusual achievement when artist and engraver are working in the same national tradition rather than across an outsourced international print contract.

Printed domestically at a time when most central European states still relied on foreign security printers, this note reflects Czechoslovakia's investment in sovereign printing infrastructure during the interwar period — a capacity that would be abruptly interrupted by the German occupation in 1939.