3 Koruny

The 1953 Czechoslovak monetary reform was one of the most punishing currency conversions in postwar Eastern Europe. Savings above a modest threshold were exchanged at a rate of 50:1, while wages converted at 5:1 — a deliberate act of state expropriation that wiped out accumulated private wealth overnight. This 3 Koruny státovka was issued directly under that reform, not as a transitional placeholder but as a permanent low-denomination note in the new system.

The term "státovka" — state treasury note — distinguished these issues from banknotes of the Státní banka československá, a distinction that mattered legally even if it meant little to ordinary users.