Paper money of the Hungarian pengő

Hungarian pengő paper money (Hungarian: pengő papírpénz) was part of the physical form of Hungary's historical currency, the Hungarian pengő. Paper money usually meant banknotes, which were issued (either in fact or in name) by the Hungarian National Bank. Later – during and after World War II – other types of paper money appeared, including emergency money, bonds and savings certificates.

Initially, paper money was designed abroad, and printed using simple methods. Later, more advanced techniques were used, creating banknotes which reflected stability.[clarification needed] After the war, in parallel with their loss in value, the quality of banknotes decreased. Finally, not even serial numbers were printed on the notes.

## Banknotes

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### First series (1926)

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The first series of pengő banknotes were printed in 1926 in the following denominations: 5 P, 10 P, 20 P, 50 P, and 100 P. All these banknotes were designed by Ferenc Helbing. Due to the poor printing technology (offset printing) counterfeits appeared in a short time. The situation was so serious that the banknotes soon had to be replaced with a new series. As a consequence, these belong to the most valued collector rarities among Hungarian banknotes.

1926 series

Image | Value | Dimensions | Description | Date of
Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | printing | issue | withdrawal
|  | 5 pengő  | 150 × 75 mm  | Portrait of Count István Széchenyi by Friedrich Amerling | View of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge | 1 March 1926  | 27 December 1926  | 30 June 1929
|  | 10 pengő  | 157 × 78 mm  | Ferenc Deák | The Hungarian Parliament Building | 30 June 1930
|  | 20 pengő  | 166 × 84 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | Géza Mészöly's painting: "Balaton scene"  | 31 May 1931
|  | 50 pengő  | 175 × 90 mm  | Portrait of Ferenc II Rákóczi by Ádám Mányoki | Károly Lotz's painting: "Stallions in the shower"  | 31 March 1935
|  | 100 pengő  | 182 × 96 mm  | Portrait of King Matthias Corvinus by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio | View of the Buda Castle with the Danube | 30 April 1933
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

### Second series (1927–1932)

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The first denomination of the second series of pengő banknotes was the 1000 pengő note, designed by Zoltán Egri.[1] In contrast to the 1926 series, this banknote (as well as the other notes of this series) was printed using intaglio printing. The next banknote of the series was the 5 pengő note (dated 1928), then the 10 pengő (1929), 20 and 100 pengő (1930), and the 50 pengő notes (1932). These banknotes were designed by Álmos Jaschik.[2]

1927–1932 series

Image | Value | Dimensions | Description | Date of
Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | printing | issue | withdrawal
|  | 5 pengő  | 150 × 75 mm  | Portrait of Count István Széchenyi by Friedrich Amerling | View of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge | 1 August 1928  | 20 December 1928  | 31 December 1930
|  | 10 pengő  | 159 × 80 mm  | Ferenc Deák | The Hungarian Parliament Building | 1 February 1929  | 11 December 1929  | 30 November 1939
|  | 20 pengő  | 165 × 85 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | The Hungarian National Bank building  | 2 January 1930  | 20 November 1930  | 31 October 1943
|  | 50 pengő  | 168 × 86 mm  | Sándor Petőfi | János Visky's painting: "Herding in Hortobágy"  | 1 October 1932  | 10 September 1934  | 6 May 1946
|  | 100 pengő  | 176 × 91 mm  | Portrait of King Matthias Corvinus by Andrea Mantegna | View of the Buda Castle with the Danube | 1 July 1930  | 25 October 1932
|  | 1000 pengő  | 192 × 112 mm  | The Hungária-head from the Statue of Liberty in Arad | Gyula Benczúr's painting: "Baptism of Vajk"  | 1 July 1927  | 27 December 1927  | 14 June 1945
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

### Low denomination series (1938)

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In 1938, a series of 50 fillér, 1, 2, and 5 pengő notes were designed by Franke Rupert. The aim of the National Bank was to quickly supply the territories over which Hungary gained control under the First and Second Vienna Awards with low denomination money. However, only the 1 and 5 pengő notes were put into circulation, although printer's proofs of the others also exist. Since the 1 pengő notes serial number was badly designed it couldn't handle many notes so a second issue was printed that was marked with a star in the serial number.

1938 series

Image | Value | Dimensions | Description | Date of
Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | printing | issue | withdrawal
|  | 50 fillér  | 81 × 48 mm  | Female model  | Value in different languages  | 15 January 1938  | never  | –
|  | 1 pengő  | 99 × 56 mm  | 20 January 1941  | 10 March 1942
|  | 1 pengő
(2nd issue)
|  | 2 pengő  | 110 × 61 mm  | never  | –
|  | 5 pengő  | 120 × 65 mm  | Rózsi Tóth Professional female model  | 5 November 1938  | 31 July 1939
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

### War series (1936–1941)

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The first banknote of the series is the 10 pengő note, which is dated 1936 but was not put into circulation earlier than 1939 but the 10 pengő was printed from 1936. This banknote was followed by the 5 pengő note (dated 1939), then the 2 pengő (1940) and the 20 pengő notes (1941). A 100 pengő note was also planned, however, it was printed in a slightly different version and only used by the evacuated troops in Austria. The banknotes of the series were designed by Endre Horváth[3]

1936–1941 series

Image | Value | Dimensions | Description | Date of
Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | printing | issue | withdrawal
|  | 2 pengő  | 114 × 58 mm  | Valéria Rudas Female model from Bény | Mrs. Lajos Fábián with her daughter Marika Fábián from Hollókő | 15 July 1940  | 20 January 1941  | 10 March 1942
|  | 5 pengő  | 121 × 59 mm  | Mrs. Ferenc Bugárdi (Ms. Julianna Csonka) Female model from Bény | Statue of Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos by Gyula Bezerédi | 25 October 1939  | 18 March 1940  | 5 August 1942
28 April 1945  | 6 May 1946
|  | 10 pengő  | 158 × 71 mm  | Mary with Jesus and Mária Bőle female model from Pesthidegkút | Statue of king St. Stephen by Alajos Stróbl | 22 December 1936  | 15 May 1939
|  | 20 pengő  | 164 × 75 mm  | Female model  | Young wife and old man in the fields  | 15 January 1941  | 16 November 1942
|  | 100 pengő  | ?  | Female model  | Coat of arms and male nudes  | ?  | never  | –
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

### Veszprém series (1943)

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Series of banknotes were printed in Veszprém by the evacuated Szálasi government and circulated in the Nazi-ruled part of Hungary in 1944.

First, the 100 P note of 1930 and the 10 P note of 1936 were reprinted in late 1944. These banknotes were marked with a star in the serial number (1 pengő notes of 1938 with a star in the serial number are not Veszprém issues), and are much less common than those without it. Some of the 100 P banknotes were overstamped with a 1,000 P adhesive stamp – these were later replaced by the 1,000 P note of 1943.

Later in 1944 there was a plan to issue a new series of 10, 100 and 1000 P banknotes – all designed by Endre Horváth. Due to lack of time, only the 1,000 P note was officially put into circulation, 100 P notes were printed but only used by the evacuated troops in Austria, the 10 P note is only known as printer's proof. The 100 and 1,000 P notes were designed using elements of earlier banknotes.

In the last days of the Szálasi government, some of the notes (10 P of 1936, 20 P of 1941, 50 P of 1932, 100 P of 1930 and 1,000 P of 1943) were overstamped with a green arrow-cross stamp – however, most of these overstamped banknotes are considered to be fake (i.e. overstamped later to turn these common banknotes into more expensive 'rarities') : stamp inks are tend to be very fresh on these banknotes and it is not clear what the purpose of such overstamping would have been.

1943 series

Image | Value | Dimensions | Description | Date of
Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | printing | issue | withdrawal
|  | 10 pengő  | ? mm  | Female model  | Woman with sickle and wheat  | 24 February 1943  | never  | –
|  | 100 pengő  | 156 × 100 mm  | Rózsi Tóth Professional female model  | Coat of arms and male nudes  | never (see text)  | –
|  | 1,000 pengő  | 183 × 100 mm  | The Hungária-head from the Statue of Liberty in Arad | View of Buda with the statue of St. Gellért | 4 November 1944  | 14 June 1945
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

### Postwar inflation series (1945–1946)

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After the war the new democratic government suffered from serious lack of money, so it ordered the national bank to manufacture banknotes quickly and cheaply. There was little time to design new notes, so the plates of banknotes printed in 1926 were reused (compare the 50, 100, 1,000,000 and 100,000,000 notes with the 50, 100, 20 and 10 pengő notes from the 1926 series, respectively) as well as portraits from other notes (e.g. compare the 500 pengő note with the 500,000 korona note and the 100,000 pengő note with the 2 pengő note from 1940). Beginning with the 1000 pengő note, only denominations of integer powers of ten were used. The uncontrolled issue of banknotes aggravated inflation.

In December 1945, the government tried (and failed) to bring inflation under control by a one-off capital levy. This meant that the 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 pengő banknotes had to be overstamped with a stamp that could be bought for 3 times the value of the banknote. Unstamped banknotes were worth a quarter of their nominal value after this campaign. Later the 100,000 pengő note was issued again in different colors – this banknote and higher denominations did not fall under the capital levy.

Although there were plans to issue 10 billion (1010) pengő notes (similar in design to the 1946-version 10 Ft note), denominations higher than one billion were renamed milpengő (which stands for million pengő) and the indicated value was reduced by a factor of one million. The next denomination after the one billion pengő note became the 10,000 milpengő, which was equal to ten thousand million pengő, and had a similar design to the 10,000 pengő note. The aim was to ease everyday money handling and accounting as well as to reuse the designs of earlier banknotes with little changes.

After the one billion ("milliárd") milpengő note, a new abbreviation had to be used, since further higher denominations were necessary. This became the b.-pengő, which stands for billion pengő; where billion is on the long scale (i.e. - one million million, or 1012 pengő, rather than the short scale 109, which is "milliárd" in Hungarian). The designs were reused again with changes to the color and the addition of the "B" prefix. The highest printed denomination – the one billion ("milliárd") b.-pengő (i.e. - 1021 pengő) note – was never released into circulation, but is widely recognized as the highest-denomination government-backed note ever printed. (Though not the one with the most zeros—see Banknotes of Zimbabwe#Banknotes of the third dollar (ZWR).)

This naming scheme and reuse of the designs is the reason for the cyclic pattern in the hyperinflation pengő notes. The cycle was 6 digit, meaning that notes with the same number before the denomination (e.g. 10,000 pengő, 10,000 milpengő, 10,000, b.-pengő) had the same design, though printed in a different color.

1945–1946 series

Image | Value | Dimensions | Description | Date of
Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | printing | issue | withdrawal
|  | 50 pengő  | 175 × 90 mm  | Portrait of Ferenc II Rákóczi by Ádám Mányoki | Károly Lotz's painting: "Stallions in the shower"  | 5 April 1945  | 5 June 1945  | 6 May 1946
|  | 100 pengő  | 183 × 97 mm  | Portrait of King Matthias Corvinus by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio | View of the Buda Castle with the Danube | 9 May 1945
|  | 500 pengő  | 177 × 86 mm  | Female model  | Value in different languages  | 15 May 1945  | 1 June 1945
|  | 1,000 pengő  | 185 × 90 mm  | Female model  | Value in different languages  | 15 July 1945  | 16 July 1945  | 31 December 1945
|  | 1,000 pengő
(red adhesive stamp)  | 185 × 90 mm  | Female model  | Value in different languages  | 19 December 1945  | 6 May 1946
|  | 10,000 pengő  | 171 × 82 mm  | Female model  | Value in different languages  | 15 July 1945  | 17 October 1945  | 31 December 1945
|  | 10,000 pengő
(brown adhesive stamp)  | 171 × 82 mm  | Female model  | Value in different languages  | 19 December 1945  | 5 July 1946
|  | 100,000 pengő  | 179 × 81 mm  | Valéria Rudas Female model from Bény | Coat of arms and value in different languages  | 23 October 1945  | 12 December 1945  | 31 December 1945
|  | 100,000 pengő
(green adhesive stamp)  | 179 × 81 mm  | Valéria Rudas Female model from Bény | Coat of arms and value in different languages  | 19 December 1945  | 31 January 1946
|  | 100,000 pengő
(2nd issue)  | 179 × 81 mm  | Valéria Rudas Female model from Bény | Coat of arms and value in different languages  | 27 December 1945  | 5 July 1946
|  | 1,000,000 pengő  | 167 × 84 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | Géza Mészöly's painting: "Balaton scene"  | 16 November 1945  | 28 February 1946  | 24 June 1946
|  | 10,000,000 pengő
(107 pengő)  | 184 × 84 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | Dove carrying an olive branch  | 2 April 1946
|  | 100,000,000 pengő
(108 pengő)  | 159 × 79 mm  | Female model  | The Hungarian Parliament Building | 18 March 1946  | 30 April 1946  | 10 July 1946
|  | 1,000,000,000 pengő
(109 pengő)  | 174 × 84 mm  | Lúcia Lendvay Female model from Székesfehérvár | Value  | 13 May 1946
|  | 10,000 milpengő
(1010 pengő)  | 171 × 82 mm  | Female model  | Value  | 29 April 1946  | 27 May 1946  | 31 July 1946
|  | 100,000 milpengő
(1011 pengő)  | 179 × 81 mm  | Valéria Rudas Female model from Bény | Coat of arms and value  | 3 June 1946
|  | 1,000,000 milpengő
(1012 pengő)  | 167 × 84 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | Géza Mészöly's painting: "Balaton scene"  | 24 May 1946  | 12 June 1946
|  | 10,000,000 milpengő
(1013 pengő)  | 184 × 84 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | Dove carrying an olive branch  | 18 June 1946
|  | 100,000,000 milpengő
(1014 pengő)  | 159 × 79 mm  | Female model  | The Hungarian Parliament Building | 3 June 1946  | 24 June 1946
|  | 1,000,000,000 milpengő
(1015 pengő)  | 174 × 84 mm  | Lúcia Lendvay Female model from Székesfehérvár | Value  | 27 June 1946
|  | 10,000 b.‑pengő
(1016 pengő)  | 171 × 82 mm  | Female model  | Value  | 3 June 1946  | 1 July 1946  | 31 July 1946
|  | 100,000 b.‑pengő
(1017 pengő)  | 179 × 81 mm  | Valéria Rudas Female model from Bény | Coat of arms and value  | 2 July 1946
|  | 1,000,000 b.‑pengő
(1018 pengő)  | 167 × 84 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | Géza Mészöly's painting: "Balaton scene"  | 4 July 1946
|  | 10,000,000 b.‑pengő
(1019 pengő)  | 184 × 84 mm  | Lajos Kossuth | Dove carrying an olive branch  | 8 July 1946
|  | 100,000,000 b.‑pengő
(1020 pengő)  | 159 × 79 mm  | Female model  | The Hungarian Parliament Building | 11 July 1946
|  | 1,000,000,000 b.‑pengő
(1021 pengő)  | 174 × 84 mm  | Lúcia Lendvay Female model from Székesfehérvár | Value  | Never  | –
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

## Soviet Red Army issues

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In 1944, during the Soviet occupation of Hungary, the Red Army issued paper money without cover in the areas under its control. These banknotes were of poor quality, easily counterfeited, and aggravated the inflation of the pengő.

Red Army series

Image | Value | Dimensions | Description | Date of
Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | issue | withdrawal
|  | 1 pengő  | 135 × 70 mm  | Value  | Value  | 1944  | 28 February 1946
|  | 2 pengő  | 138 × 69 mm
|  | 5 pengő  | 135 × 67 mm
|  | 10 pengő  | 161 × 81 mm
|  | 20 pengő  | 165 × 84 mm
|  | 50 pengő  | 179 × 90 mm
|  | 100 pengő  | 184 × 97 mm
|  | 1,000 pengő  | 194 × 104 mm

## References

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* Hungary portal
* Money portal
* Numismatics portal

1. ^ (in Hungarian) www.penzportal.hu[permanent dead link] (Designers of the pengő banknotes: Zoltán Egri)
2. ^ (in Hungarian) www.penzportal.hu[permanent dead link] (Designers of the pengő banknotes: Álmos Jaschik)
3. ^ (in Hungarian) www.penzportal.hu[permanent dead link] (Designers of the pengő banknotes: Endre Horváth)

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Historical currencies of Hungary

| Currency | Forint
1867-1892 | Korona
1892-1918 | Korona
1919-1926 | Pengő
1927-1946 | Adópengő
1946 | Forint
1946-present

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