Anniversary 5,000-koruna notes from the Czech National Bank are already being resold for triple their face value

On Tuesday, September 22, the Czech National Bank (CNB) began exchanging commemorative 5,000-koruna banknotes issued to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Bank of Czechoslovakia. But by the very same day, the notes had already turned up on online marketplaces for several times their face value.

On the auction site Aukro, the banknote was being offered for as much as 7,499 crowns. One seller listed 22 notes at once — and by Tuesday evening had reportedly already sold at least eight of them. On the classifieds site Bazoš.cz, notes with the commemorative overprint were going for an average of 6,500 crowns, with more than sixty users posting listings, some offering several notes each.

How the exchange at the CNB went

Starting September 22, the banknotes could be exchanged at face value at the CNB's central office and its branches. Each person was limited to a maximum of three notes, with the bank planning to put a total of 200,000 into circulation. Collectors were also offered the option to buy a paper envelope for the note for an extra 100 crowns.

The CNB declined to comment on the resellers' activity.

On Tuesday, long queues formed outside branches as people lined up to get hold of a banknote. Outside the CNB's central office on Senovážná Street in Prague, people began gathering even before opening — some joined the queue as early as 4 p.m. on Monday and spent the night outside. The first person managed to get a banknote at 7:30 a.m.

A familiar story

This isn't the first time new banknotes have ended up on the resale market at inflated prices almost immediately. The commemorative 1,000-koruna note issued in 2023 to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Czech Republic was being resold for eight times its face value on the very day it was released.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz