1 000 000 Adópengő Tax note, 3rd edition

The adópengő was not a currency in the conventional sense — it was an inflation-indexed unit introduced in January 1946 by the Hungarian state specifically to allow tax and postal payments to keep pace with the hyperinflation that was destroying the regular pengő in real time. By mid-1946, Hungary's hyperinflation was the worst ever recorded in history, with prices doubling roughly every fifteen hours at the peak. The adópengő was pegged daily to a published index, meaning its nominal value changed every morning.

Magyar Posta issued these notes rather than the National Bank, making them postal instruments, not banknotes in the strict sense — a distinction that mattered legally at the time. The third edition designation reflects how rapidly successive printings were authorized as denominations became inadequate within weeks of issue.