Ducats of St. Wenceslas

Every year on 28 September, we commemorate the legacy of Saint Wenceslas – a valiant knight, wise prince and pious martyr, who has been a popular subject of coin art for centuries. But this year's holiday is special…

The year was 1923, and Finance Minister Alois Rašín and his colleagues were thinking about how to celebrate Czechoslovakia's 5^th birthday. They decided to revive the historical tradition of minting Czech gold coins, which dates back to the times of the rulers Jan Lucemburský and Charles IV, and thus the first republican St. Wenceslas ducats were born. Alois Rašín, on whom an assassination attempt was made, 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 trade coins that served as a store of value, but people quickly grew to like them mainly as a gift for important events – for a newborn baby, for a graduation or for a wedding. The mandatory specification of the single ducat was 3.49 grams of gold with a purity of 986/1000. Ducat multiples were also minted. The potential of the coins was quickly discovered by collectors. The rarest examples today include the 1937 ten-ducat, of which only 10 pieces were minted, and the two-ducat from the same year, of which only 8 pieces were produced. Of course, the original mintage from 1923 also belongs to the sought-after St.Wenceslas Ducats – it is not without interest that a modified die with a different serial number was used for each piece at that time.

It is no different 100 years later - in 2023. Each piece from the unique edition of modern ducats of the Czech Mint boasts an individual number incorporated into the relief, which was created directly as part of the minting process. The mintage is only 100 ducats. Each piece comes with an exceptional gift – an original numbered die that was used in its production.

Collectors who did not get the edition with the die need not despair. We still have the last pieces of individual ducats in stock.