Silver proof commemorative coin produced by Czech Mint, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Bohumil Hrabal birthday.

Bohumil Hrabal (March 28, 1914, Brno - February 3, 1997, Prague) was a famous Czech writer. Born in Brno-Židenice, Moravia, he lived briefly in Polná, but was raised in the Nymburk brewery as the manager's stepson. Hrabal received a Law degree from Prague's Charles University, and lived in the city from the late 1940s on. He lived at 24 Na Hrázi Street in Prague - Libeň; the house does not exist any more. He worked as a manual laborer alongside Vladimír Boudník in the Kladno ironworks in the 1950s, an experience which inspired the "hyper-realist" texts he was writing at the time. His two best known novels were Closely Watched Trains (Ostre sledované vlaky) (1965) and I Served the King of England (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále), both of which were made into movies by the Czech director, Jirí Menzel (1966 and 2006, respectively).

In 1965 he bought a cottage in Kersko, which he used to visit till the end of his life, and where he kept cats. He was a great storyteller; his favorite pub was At the Golden Tiger (U zlatého tygra) on Husova Street in Prague, where he met the Czech President Václav Havel, the American President Bill Clinton and the then-US ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright on January 11, 1994. He died when he fell from a window on the fifth floor of the Bulovka hospital in Prague where he was apparently trying to feed pigeons. It was noted that Hrabal lived on the fifth floor of his apartment building and that suicides by leaping from a fifth-floor window were mentioned in several of his books. He was buried in his family's crypt in a cemetery in Hradištko.

The obverse side of the coin depicts a motif of rails which merge into a female silhouette. The lower part of the coin features two stamps alluding to Hrabal's book “Closely Observed Trains”. The name of the state “ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA” is located around the left-hand, upper and right-hand edge of the coin. The denomination and abbreviated monetary unit “200 Kč” are written in the middle of the rails around the upper edge of the coin. The coin was minted by the Czech Mint in Jablonec nad Nisou. Its mark is to the left of the left-hand stamp.

The reverse side of the coin features a portrait of Bohumil Hrabal. Written around the left-hand, bottom and right-hand edge of the coin is the text “BOHUMIL HRABAL”, which partly extends into the lower part of the portrait. The year “1914” is located above the collar of the portrait and the year “2014” is on the collar of the portrait. The coin was designed by the sculptor Vladimír Oppl. His mark is situated above the years.