Vladimír Oppl

Life and work

He was born on 19 January 1953 in Ústí nad Labem. He trained at the ceramics technical school in Bechyně and then at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague under Professors Jan Kavan and Josef Malejovský, where he subsequently worked for ten years as an assistant. He then became a freelance artist, working for the Czech National Bank, Česká mincovna, Pražská mincovna and clients abroad.

Coins and medals

Oppl's 20 koruna coin shows St Wenceslas after Myslbek's equestrian monument on Wenceslas Square; the motif originally arose as one of several studies for the 1 koruna coin. Pieces dated 1993 were struck in Hamburg. Oppl also designed the now withdrawn 50 haléř coin and the more recent commemorative circulating 20 koruna coins with portraits of the founders of Czechoslovakia. His gold coin New Town of Prague, from the series devoted to Charles IV, was named the most beautiful gold commemorative coin in the world by World Coin News; sources differ on the year of the award (both 1999 and 2001 are given).

From the work in the AUREA range

The AUREA range offers his medals from several series. Historical subjects: the 1000th anniversary of the death of Boleslaus II (1999), Wenceslas II (2004), The Life of Charles IV – Restoration of the Royal Palace, Charles IV and St Wenceslas, Protector of the Czech Lands (2010). Figures of Czech culture: Jan Neruda, Mikoláš Aleš, Josef Lada, Leoš Janáček, John Amos Comenius, Josef Čapek and František Palacký. Masaryk medals (2009) in variants with small and large lettering. The 2024 series: Milada Horáková, the Czechoslovak Anthem, Charter 77, the Government-in-Exile in London, the Adoption of the Czechoslovak Constitutional Charter, Karel Kramář, the First Czechoslovak Resistance, and Jozef Gabčík with Jan Kubiš.