Results of the public anonymous competition for the design of a gold 100-euro collector coin commemorating the 450th anniversary of the coronation of Maximilian

Reduced first prize
Karol Ličko

Second prize
akad. soch. Ivan Řehák

Third prize
Mgr. art. Miroslav Hric, ArtD.

In August 2012 Národná banka Slovenska announced a public competition for the design of a €100 gold collector coin to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the coronation in Bratislava of Maximilian as king of Hungary. Fourteen designs were anonymously entered in the competition, and at the end of November 2012 they were judged by the Committee for the Assessment of Slovak Euro Coin Designs. The Committee concluded that the majority of designs did not meet the technical criteria for the coin and, according to the expert advisor to the Committee, many designs inaccurately depicted details of the coronation, including architecture and artefacts of that period. As a result, the competition was declared void and no prizes were awarded.

The NBS Bank Board decided that the competition would be rerun in January 2013.
A total of thirteen designs by eleven designers were entered in the competition, and on
28 February 2013 they were judged by the Committee. The expert advisor to the Committee was historian and journalist PhDr. Štefan Holčík, CSc., who assessed historical aspects of the entries.

On the Committee’s recommendation, a design by Karol Ličko was awarded a reduced first prize and will be used for the coin, while the second and third prizes were awarded for designs by akad. soch. Ivan Řehák and Mgr. art. Miroslav Hric, ArtD. The competition was concluded by a decision of the NBS Governor of 19 March 2013.

The Committee commended Mr Ličko’s winning design for its accurate portrayal of Maximilian on the reverse side, accompanied by a depiction of St Martin’s Cathedral
– a symbol of the city and the place where Hungarian kings were crowned from 1563 to 1830. On the obverse side is a fine depiction of the royal crown above the royal palace, with prominence given to the palace’s south-western tower, where the crown was kept for 200 years. The Committee was impressed with the artistic balance between the obverse and reverse sides and with the composition of the inscription around the edge of the design.

The second prize was awarded to akad. soch. Ivan Řehák with the Committee noting the unconventionality of his designs for the obverse and reverse sides. Each is set inside a square and the inscriptions are placed between the edges of the squares and the edge of the coin. The obverse design features a historic townscape of 16th century Bratislava, interspersed with flashes of light from the fireworks mentioned in descriptions of the post-coronation celebrations. On the reverse side is a portrait of Maximilian, which is notable for being a copy of a portrait located on the fountain in Bratislava’s Main Square. The background design features motifs and artefacts from a historical engraving.

The third prize went to Mgr. art. Miroslav Hric, ArtD. The reverse side depicts Maximilian and, to the right of his portrait, the Hungarian royal crown. The coronation year appears below the crown. The Committee commended the precise depiction of the Chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the exceptionally faithful and realistic portrait of Maximilian. The obverse side shows the newly-crowned king on horseback with a townscape of Bratislava in the background.