The Czechoslovak koruna (in Czech and Slovak: koruna československá, at times koruna česko-slovenská; koruna means crown) was the currency of Czechoslovakia from 10 April 1919 to 14 March 1939, and from 1 November 1945 to 7 February 1993. For a brief time in 1939 and again in 1993, it was also the currency in the separate Czech Republic and Slovakia. On 8 February 1993, it was replaced by the Czech koruna and the Slovak koruna, both at par. The (last) ISO 4217 code and the local abbreviations for the koruna were CSK and Kčs. One koruna equalled 100 haléřů (Czech, singular: haléř) or halierov (Slovak, singular: halier). In both languages, the abbreviation h was used. The abbreviation was placed behind the numeric value. First koruna A currency called the krone in German and koruna in Czech was introduced in Austria-Hungary on 11 September 1892, as the first modern gold-based currency in the area. After the creation of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, an urgent need emerged for the establishment of a new currency system that would distinguish itself from the currencies of the other newly born countries suffering from inflation. The next year, on 10 April 1919, a currency reform took place, defining the new koruna as equal in value to the Austro-Hungarian krone. The first banknotes came into circulation the same year, the coins three years later, in 1922. This first koruna circulated until 1939, when separate currencies for Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia were introduced, at par with the Czechoslovak koruna. These were the Bohemian and Moravian koruna and the Slovak koruna. Coins Banknotes Second koruna The Czechoslovak koruna was re-established in 1945, replacing the two previous currencies at par. As a consequence of the war, the currency had lost much of its value. Coins Banknotes Third koruna The koruna went through a number of further reforms. A particularly drastic one was undertaken in 1953. At that time, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia had to deal with the existence of a double market in the country: a fixed market ensuring basic food availability (a remnant of the postwar quota system); and a free market, in which goods were as much as eight times more expensive but better quality. They decided to declare a currency reform effective from 1 June 1953 and to distribute new banknotes printed in the Soviet Union. The reform had been prepared very quickly and