From Wednesday, people can exchange money at all branches of the Czech National Bank (ČNB) for special thousand crowns, which commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Czechoslovak monetary separation. In the past, a similar event by the central bank was of great interest to the public, with long queues for the exchange of 100 kroner and 20 kroner. The wait paid off for people, as they are now being sold at significantly higher prices.
The Central Bank marked a total of 200,000 banknotes with a special overprint. These are now offered to the public. Those interested can get a maximum of five pieces in exchange for other banknotes and coins of the same amount. The event will last until supplies run out, which is only a few days, according to the CNB’s estimate.
Exchange of 1,000 crowns is only possible in person at CNB offices in Prague, České Budějovice, Pilsen, Ústí nad Labem, Hradec Králové, Brno and Ostrava, during extended cashier hours from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
“For the sake of quick check-in at cash registers, the Czech National Bank recommends that people prepare banknotes in an amount corresponding to the required number of annual banknotes. Banknotes cannot be ordered or sent,” points out Central Bank spokeswoman Petra Krmelová.
The annual banknote consists of a regular 2008 thousand-koruna note with additional printing on the obverse side of the coupon. Given that the banknote refers to the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Czech and Slovak koruna, which was associated with, among other things, the stamping of banknotes, this overprint is precisely the motif of the contemporary thousand-koruna banknote stamp from 1993, as well as the 30th anniversary logo of the CNB by the academic painter Jan Solpera .
The overprint does not affect the current value or validity of the banknote, so it can be used to pay for goods and services. However, according to experts from the CNB, people probably keep the banknote as a collector’s item and it gets into circulation more likely due to the inattention of the owners.
The valuation will be up to threefold, the expert estimates
According to expert Jan Jelínek from the Macho & Chlapovič auction house, which focuses on numismatics, it would be a mistake to voluntarily put the annual thousand-koruna into circulation.
“The estimated price development for the newly issued 1,000 with added pressure will initially oscillate from the nominal value to roughly double,” the expert estimates. “I think that the price will stabilize somewhere in the future at two to three times the nominal value. But let’s be surprised how the new banknote will find its place in collectors’ albums,” says Jelínek.
According to him, even before February 8, offers for the pre-sale of these thousands with additional printing were visible on various servers. “Future development will depend a lot on whether the CNB made a special series of letters only for these banknotes, as was the case with the 100 koruna in 2019. At that time, it was series M01 to M28, where each series was issued with a number of up to 8 thousand pieces. This is a challenge for collectors to put together a complete set. Let’s hope that the CNB has adopted a similar policy as last time,” adds the expert.
A similar event with the exchange of currencies took place in 2018 and 2019 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Czechoslovak state and 100 years since the monetary separation from Austria-Hungary. At that time, people had the option to exchange annual twenty crowns and later one hundred crowns with additional printing. The interest was extraordinary, there were long queues in front of the branches of the central bank at that time.
Jelínek reminds that the appreciation of the hundred crown was and is still significant. Some are sold today for more than a thousand crowns, which is a tenfold or higher appreciation. “With the commemorative twenties from the years 2018 and 2019, such an appreciation is not visible, even considering that the CNB subsequently proceeded to issue a joint set of commemorative twenty crowns, so it reached many people. This set of all 6 pieces is sold today for around 500 crowns,” he continues expert.
Now, Jan Jelínek expects the interest to be slightly lower, due to the economic reasons of Czech households. “After all, this is a higher nominal value, and in today’s economic situation, people will not just take one thousand to five thousand crowns out of their wallets to save the banknotes for later evaluation,” concludes the numismatist.
