1 Koruna Tuzex

Tuzex bony were not currency in any legal sense — they were internal foreign-exchange vouchers issued by the state-run hard-currency retail network, redeemable only at Tuzex shops stocked with Western goods unavailable through normal Czechoslovak retail. The system ran from 1957 onward, allowing the regime to extract hard currency from citizens who received remittances from abroad while maintaining the fiction that the socialist economy provided for all needs.

A secondary black market developed almost immediately. Veksláci — illegal currency traders — haunted hotel lobbies and train stations, buying bony from tourists and selling them at a premium to locals desperate for imported electronics, jeans, or alcohol. Possession of actual Western currency remained restricted; the bony were the permissible proxy.

The 1970–1976 series was printed by Státní Tiskárna Cenin, the same Prague security printer responsible for Czechoslovak banknotes proper.