Catalog
20 Korun
| Issuer | Czechoslovakia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | An Austro-Hungarian Bank 20 Kronen note (dated 2. Jänner 1913) overstamped for Czechoslovak use, with a violet rectangular Czechoslovak adhesive stamp affixed at upper left bearing the value '20' and a lion vignette. The underlying note retains its original design with a portrait of a young woman at right, guilloche underprint in rose and brown tones, and Hungarian-language text reading 'HUSZ KORONA' at centre, with two signatures of the Austro-Hungarian Bank below the 'OSZTRAK-MAGYAR BANK' inscription. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse of the underlying Austro-Hungarian 20 Kronen note (Austria P#14), printed in blue-violet, showing a portrait of a young woman at left within a decorative frame, the imperial double-headed eagle coat of arms at centre-right within an elliptical guilloche, and multilingual denomination text reading 'ZWANZIG KRONEN' in German with equivalent inscriptions in multiple languages of the Empire below, including Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Italian, Romanian, Croatian, and Slovenian. |
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Czechoslovakia's first currency law was passed on 25 February 1919, just months after the state itself came into existence. These early notes were produced with considerable urgency — the new republic needed to physically separate its money supply from the Austro-Hungarian krone system as fast as possible. The mechanism used was stamping: existing Austro-Hungarian banknotes were overprinted to create a provisional Czechoslovak currency while longer-term printing arrangements were established.
Pick 2A belongs to that provisional series, issued under the authority of the Ministry of Finance rather than a central bank, which did not yet exist. The Czechoslovak National Bank wouldn't be founded until 1926.