Czechoslovakia 20 Korun 1949

Great note.

Just a really cute note with young girls picking flowers, while the factory in the background spews out tonnes of cancer causing carcinogens into the environment.

I was gonna say: A little young for my tastes and laws.

Detail from Czechoslovakia 1000 Kcs 1945.



And the whole note. What is funny about the image of the girl is that it is a heavy engraving, produced quickly, as is the note. The note was ordered right after the cessation of hostilities during WWII and there were competing designs which actually made it into circulation. With successive currency reforms under the Soviet government, these notes soon were declared worthless. It is a shame the vignette in the note was not used in a note with more planning, and actual use.

Yeah... she's pretty but that look just makes me think I wronged her in some way.

Pretty notes

Czech Korun unissued 1946, continuation of a 1938 design that was also unissued.

Bohemia Moravia 1 Korun 1942, very similar to the Czech Korun that was supposed to be issued in 1938.

Bohemia Moravia 10 Korun 1942, with a young girl.

Great notes, wonderful designs but there again the Czechs have allways had a good rep for engraving just have a look at some of there stamps

Well, is she the quintecential European farm girl or what? I wonder if these were allegorical or if they were portraits of living persons? Great notes.

I'd give that look too if someone dropped a bowl of spaghetti on my head too.

Bohemia-Moravia 5 Kcs from 1942, curiously the portrait on the reverse looks amazingly like then Princess Elizabeth of the UK.

very nice notes indeed

The lower of the 2 pic's with the profile is a very striking resemblence to a young Queeny

Alfons Mucha(1860-1939) was perhaps one of the greatest artists of the late 19th century "Art Nouveau" movement. His usage of colourful floral imagery with lovely young ladies became the rage of Paris in the 1890's. The early 20th century saw his travels to America and then his return to Moravia in what was then the Austro-Hungarian empire in the early 1910's. By this time new projects dominated his time, and political interests, namely the epoch of the Slavic people became his focus. His style of artistry evolved into something more neo-classicist by this time also.

The independence of the Czechoslovakian nation in 1918 necessitated a whole new series of banknotes for the new state, and he undertook the design of many of the new banknotes, namely the 5, 10, 20, 100 and 500 Korun notes. The design of the 1919 is essentially the same with some slight modifications for the 1927 issue shown above.

A unique aspect of the note is that the young girl shown on the reverse is a known person, and a young lady featured prominently in several of Mucha's later works - his daughter Jaroslava Mucha.



Here Jaroslava is shown with her younger brother, Jiri in a 1919 oil by Mucha.

And here in a painting from ca. 1931:



Alfons Mucha had hoped that his son Jiri would follow in his stead and take up art, however it was his daughter, Jaroslava that followed her father in the realm of art. She cataloged many of his works, restored others and accomplished her own works. Jiri would become a writer, and did in fact biograph his father.

It tok me a few glances til I did see signs of Mucha's work. It doesn't look like the other notes of his you posted.

Very Nice Notes

I like the painting of the lady.

I got one of these out of a junk bin of notes over the weekend, it's kinda rough, but it's a pretty little note!

wow.... love it!!!!

Specimen of 5.000 Korun 1920, actually a canceled note.

Scottishmoney, would this note be worth $20 if it were a specimen issue? I really love this design, and the artwork, but I am not so sure of purchasing a specimen version for that much. I figured out of anyone, you would know.

$20 for a specimen of the 10 Kcs note is about 2x what it is worth to me. The uncanceled ones are much scarcer.

Great notes! very cute..esp. the little girls as they look like squirrels (can I say that?)

Images all fixed, moved them around on my site in anticipation of creating a website on banknotes.