The Mint strikes a set of Václav Havel commemorative medals
Playwright, dissident, president. Three key stages of Václav Havel’s life have been designed by the medal coiner Vojtěch Dostál for a new set of commemorative medals being issued by the Czech Mint in Jablonec nad Nisou on the occasion of Havel’s eightieth anniversary. The set is issued in two versions, gold and silver.
Three medals, three portraits, each one a little different. While reading glasses imply the artist’s philosophical detachment, flowing hair suggests the dissident’s unwillingness to submit to totality. Although the president is bound by a tie and a formal haircut on the outside, live view reveals that he has not changed inside.
“By dint of collaboration with the Foundation VIZE 97 we preserve the legacy of president and statesman Václav Havel in the public consciousness. The interest in the medals assures us that the legacy is still alive. The 2012 issue, when we issued commemorative medals to keep alive the memory of Václav Havel, was without exaggeration the Mint’s most successful initiative to date in this decade.” said Lukáš Jokl, marketing manager of the Czech Mint. The commemorative medals from 2012 are all sold out and their value increased in four years by 80%.
Some of the proceeds will be used as always to fund projects of the Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97, with which the Mint has been cooperating in the long term.
You can view the commemorative medals here: a set of gold medals, a set of silver medals.
