A commemorative print in the form of a banknote to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Johann Gregor Mendel's birth is currently in production, which you can read about in this article.
The J. G. Mendel commemorative print is the fourth commemorative print issued by the Czech Ducats. The first was dedicated to Václav Havel and was issued in November 2021 on the 10th anniversary of his death. It was in such demand that it sold out within a few days. The second was dedicated to the celebration of Jaromir Jagr's 50th birthday and sold out in less than a day. The third commemorative print is dedicated to the charity Glory to Ukraine, from which 100% of the purchase price goes to the Memory of the Nation collection. We will be glad if you contribute by buying it on 2022ukrajina.cz.
The artist Rudolf Cigánik first designed and prepared the artwork for the commemorative print. After finalizing it, the individual printing techniques that will appear on the "banknote" are specified, and it can proceed to further processing. Rudolf Cigánik, this time in the role of engraver, again took on the difficult task of transferring the individual parts of the artistic design into graphic form.
Rudolf Cigánik will transfer the drawings, which will later be realized on the commemorative plate using the intaglio printing technique, to a steel plate in a reduced scale, to then engrave the drawing with a steel chisel and make a control imprint of the engraving. This is highly crafted handwork, which no machines can fully replace. However, the graphic design of a commemorative banknote is not a matter of handwork alone.
The design of the other parts of the banknote, such as the security features, are processed on the computer using a securities graphics programme, which requires a high level of expertise, knowledge of banknote design and aesthetic sensitivity. in this case, this was the task of Stanislav Trokšiar.
Then it was the turn of the printing presses and the printers of the Imperia printing house. The first pass through the machine, when the offset printing of the first layer of the front side takes place, the note undergoes strict control by the author.
After the printing of the front side, the offset printing continues again, this time of the reverse side of the commemorative print in the form of a banknote.
Portraits of important personalities have appeared on Czech banknotes for more than 100 years. On the current banknotes, the intaglio printing technique is used to print the portrait, which is one of the basic protective elements of banknotes and securities. Just run your finger over the likeness and you will clearly feel the relief transitions between the colour and the banknote paper.
The last printing stage is the numbering of the commemorative sheet on the Numerota machine. The numbering made by printing from above has a characteristic edge of the individual digits obtained by the pressure of the numbering machine on the paper.
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