Results of the public anonymous competition for the design of a €10 silver collector coin to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ladislav Nádaši-Jégé

Reduced first prize (design selected for the coin
Asamat Baltaev, DiS.

Second prize
akad. soch. Ivan Řehák

Third prize
Mgr. art. Peter Valach

Third prize
Mgr. art. Miroslav Hric, ArtD.

In December 2014 Národná banka Slovenska announced an open competition for the design of a €10 silver collector coin to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ladislav Nádaši-Jégé, a renowned author of Slovak literature in the inter-war period and a key representative of Slovak literary naturalism.

Thirteen designs by the same number of designers were entered in the competition. In February 2015 they were evaluated anonymously by the Committee for the Assessment of Commemorative and Collector Coin Designs. The director of the Institute of Slovak Literature at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Mgr. Dana Hučková, CSc., acted as an expert advisor to the Committee.

On the Committee’s recommendation, the NBS Bank Board decided that the coin would use the design by Asamat Baltaev, who was awarded a reduced first prize. The Committee praised the artistic rendition of the coin as well as the extraordinary harmony between the obverse and reverse compositions. Both faces of the coin are dominated by an upright rectangle in the centre. On the obverse it forms a book listing the titles of Jégé’s literary works. At the foot of its page is the historical figure of a sitting warrior. In the rectangular frame on the reverse is a faithful full-face portrait of the writer in his younger years. Below the rectangle, there is a three-line inscription in the same width. The portrait and the inscription stand out in sharp relief against the smooth background of the coin field.

Second prize went to Ivan Řehák. The Committee appreciated the high quality and interesting application of his sculpting technique. The obverse depicts a partly open book with the heads of two historical figures from Jégé’s literary works on its cover. The whole field of the reverse is filled with Jégé’s portrait in profile. The composition of both sides of the coin is completed by well-placed inscriptions.

Third prize was awarded to two designers, Peter Valach and Miroslav Hric. The obverse of Valach’s coin shows a veduta of the historic town square in Dolný Kubín, the town where Jégé worked all his life. In the lower part of the coin field is a pair of glasses, the writer’s characteristic attribute. The reverse is partitioned by a frame. Inside the frame is a profile portrait of Jégé, outside are the symbols of his activities as a writer and a physician – a quill and a snake. For the obverse of his coin Miroslav Hric chose motifs from Jégé’s historical novel Adam Šangala – a rider on a rearing horse and a castle on a cliff. The reverse shows a full face portrait of the writer with a facsimile of his signature.

The silver collector coin is due to be issued in january 2016.