Gold Ducat Launch of St. Wenceslas Ducats - Ducat Gloss, Numbered

The St. Wenceslas ducats, which began to be minted exactly 100 years ago, represent an unrivalled ideal of Czechoslovak coinage. The Czech Mint pays tribute to them by issuance of the modern gold ducat in 2023.

Finance Minister Alois Rašín and his colleagues were thinking about how to celebrate Czechoslovakia's 5th birthday in 1923. They decided to revive the historical tradition of minting Czech gold coins, which dated back to the times of the rulers John the Blind and Charles IV. Thus the first republican St. Wenceslas ducats were born. Their authors were the renowned artists Jaroslav Benda and Otakar Španiel. Alois Rašín, who was assassinated, had the eye-catching design of the coin depicting the patron saint of the Czech lands brought to the hospital, but he did not live to see it minted... The St. Wenceslas ducats were so-called business coins that preserved value, but people quickly came to love them as a gift for important events - for a cradle, for graduation or even for a wedding. The ducats were not the only ones to be used, with a mandatory specification of 3.49 grams of gold of 986/1000 purity. They were also minted in multiples of two-ducats, five-ducats and ten-ducats. Their potential was quickly discovered by collectors. The rarest examples include the ten-ducat from 1937, of which only 10 pieces were minted, and the two-ducat from the same year, of which only 8 pieces were produced. The most popular St.Wenceslas ducats are, of course, also the original minted ones from 1923.

Medal maker Vojtěch Dostál, DiS., dedicated the obverse side of the modern ducat of the Czech Mint to the helmet of St. Wenceslas, which is flanked by the text of the famous old czech chorale “SAINT WENCESLAS, REMEMBER YOUR NATION, DON´T LET THE FUTURE PERISH.“ The reverse side then presents the symbols of the Czech Republic - a two-tailed lion together with a lime leaf.

Each ducat is additionally individually numbered. The number, which was added by hand to the relief of the ducat, can be found at the bottom of the obverse side. The issue run is 1,000 pieces.