Misplaced Pages

Czechoslovak koruna

československá koruna (Czech and Slovak)
One Crown of the First Czechoslovak Republic
ISO 4217
Code	CSK
Unit
Plural	The language(s) of this currency belong(s) to the Slavic languages. There is more than one way to construct plural forms.
Symbol	Kčs‎
Denominations
Subunit
1⁄100	haléř (Czech) halier (Slovak)
Banknotes
Freq. used	10, 20, 50, 100 Kčs
Rarely used	500, 1000 Kčs
Coins
Freq. used	10, 20, 50 h; 1, 2, 5 Kčs
Rarely used	5 h, 3, 10 Kčs
Demographics
User(s)	Czechoslovakia Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939) Slovakia (1939)  Czech Republic (1993)  Slovakia (1993)
Issuance
Central bank	State Bank of Czechoslovakia
Printer	Státní tiskárna cenin (State Securities Printer, Prague)
Website	www.stc.cz
Mint	Mincovňa Kremnica (Kremnica Mint)
Website	www.mint.sk
Valuation
Inflation	57.9%
Source	World Bank, 1991
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The Czechoslovak koruna (in Czech and Slovak: koruna československá, at times koruna česko-slovenská; koruna means crown) was the currency of Czechoslovakia from 10 April 1919 to 14 March 1939, and from 1 November 1945 to 7 February 1993. For a brief time in 1939 and again in 1993, it was also the currency of both the separate Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On 8 February 1993, it was replaced by the Czech koruna and the Slovak koruna, both at par.

The (last) ISO 4217 code and the local abbreviations for the koruna were CSK and Kčs. One koruna equalled 100 haléřů (Czech, singular: haléř) or halierov (Slovak, singular: halier). In both languages, the abbreviation h was used. The abbreviation was placed behind the numeric value.

First koruna

A currency called the krone in German and koruna in Czech was introduced in Austria-Hungary on 11 September 1892, as the first modern gold-based currency in the area. After the creation of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, an urgent need emerged for the establishment of a new currency system that would distinguish itself from the currencies of the other newly born countries suffering from inflation. The next year, on 10 April 1919, a currency reform took place, defining the new koruna as equal in value to the Austro-Hungarian krone. The first banknotes came into circulation the same year, the coins three years later, in 1922.

This first koruna circulated until 1939, when separate currencies for Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia were introduced, at par with the Czechoslovak koruna. These were the Bohemian and Moravian koruna and the Slovak koruna.

Coins

Banknotes

Second koruna

The Czechoslovak koruna was re-established in 1945, replacing the two previous currencies at par. As a consequence of the war, the currency had lost much of its value.

Coins

Banknotes

Third koruna

2 Czechoslovak koruna (1986).
Obverse: Coat of arms of Czechoslovakia and linden twig surrounded by year and lettering "ČESKOSLOVENSKÁ SOCIALISTICKÁ REPUBLIKA" (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic).	Reverse: Hammer and sickle with five-pointed star within abstract linden leaf at left, face-value at right.
205,779,354 coins minted from 1972 to 1990.

The koruna went through a number of further reforms. A particularly drastic one was undertaken in 1953. At that time, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia had to deal with the existence of a double market in the country: a fixed market ensuring basic food availability (a remnant of the postwar quota system); and a free market, in which goods were as much as eight times more expensive but better quality. They decided to declare a currency reform effective from 1 June 1953 and to distribute new banknotes printed in the Soviet Union. The reform had been prepared very quickly and was confidential up to the last minute, but some information leaked anyway, causing a lot of panic.

The night before the deadline, the president of Czechoslovakia, Antonín Zápotocký, made a radio speech, in which he lied to the nation that there was no possibility of a reform and quietened down the inhabitants. The next day, people (those lucky enough not to fit into the category of "capitalistic elements", a pejorative category which the intelligence agency used to blacklist certain individuals) were allowed to change up to 1,500 old korunas for new korunas at the rate of 5 old to 1 new koruna and the rest at the rate of 50 to 1. All insurance stock, state obligations and other commercial papers were nullified. The economic situation of many people got worse, and many petitions and demonstrations broke out, the largest of which took place in Plzeň, where 472 people were arrested.

In 1993, on the breakup of Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak koruna split into two independent currencies: the Slovak koruna and the Czech koruna. Accession to the EU in 2004 meant both currencies were slotted to be replaced by the euro once their respective countries met the criteria for economic convergence and there was the political will to do so. The Slovak koruna was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2009; there is currently no set or estimated date for the Czech koruna to be replaced.

Coins

Banknotes

Consumer price index

Annual increase in the consumer price index

See also

• Czech koruna
• Slovak koruna
• Bohemian and Moravian koruna

References

1. ^ Inflation in Czechoslovakia 1985–91, World Bank
2. IMF World Economic Outlook, May 1998 Statistical Appendix

• Krause, Chester L.; Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1801–1991 (18th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501.
• Pick, Albert (1994). Bruce, Colin R. II; Shafer, Neil (eds.). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues (7th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9.

External links

• Czechoslovak banknotes (catalog, gallery and other details)
• Heiko Otto (ed.). "Historical banknotes of Czechoslovakia" (in English, German, and French). Retrieved 2019-06-11.

v t e Historical currencies of the Czech Republic and Slovakia
1st Czechoslovak koruna 1919–1939 coins banknotes Protectorate koruna 1939–1945 coins banknotes Slovak koruna 1939–1945 coins banknotes 2nd Czechoslovak koruna 1945–1953 coins banknotes 3rd Czechoslovak koruna 1953–1993 coins banknotes Czech koruna 1993–present coins banknotes Slovak koruna 1993–2008 coins banknotes Euro 2009–present coins banknotes

• Currencies with ISO 4217 code
• Currencies of Europe
• Modern obsolete currencies
• Currencies of Czechoslovakia
• Currency symbols
• Currencies introduced in 1919
• Currencies introduced in 1945
• Crown (currency)