Catalog
20 Korun 1919
| Issuer | Ministerstvo Financí (Ministry of Finance) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in red-brown intaglio, the reverse presents two female figures in profile — a civilian woman at left and a female legionnaire at right — flanking a central upright sword entwined with laurel branches and surmounted by a flame, all within an elaborate Art Nouveau foliate border. The denomination '20' appears at centre below the central vignette, above the state title 'REPUBLIKA ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ'. The value is inscribed in six languages along the lower portion of the note. |
| Reverse lettering | REPUBLIKA ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ DVACET KORUN ZWANZIG KRONEN DVADSAŤ KORÚN DWADZIEŚCIA KORON ДВАДЦЯТЬ КОРОН HÚSZ KORONA |
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| Comments |
This note holds a specific place in Czech cultural history not for its denomination but for its designer. Alfons Mucha, by 1919 one of the most internationally recognized graphic artists alive, contributed designs for several of the new Czechoslovak state's first banknotes — a deliberate act of nation-building through art at a moment when the republic was barely months old, having emerged from the Habsburg collapse in October 1918.
The Ministry of Finance, rather than a central bank, served as issuer because Czechoslovakia's banking institutions were still being constituted. Emergency printing was handled domestically in Prague under considerable logistical pressure, as the new state needed to establish a distinct currency fast to prevent Austrian and Hungarian notes from dominating circulation.
Mucha took no fee for his banknote work — he considered it a gift to his country.