Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Forint Magyar Kereskedelmi Bank
| Issuer | Magyar Kereskedelmi Bank (Hungarian Commercial Bank) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1848 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 127 × 89 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in blue. Medallic female head vignettes appear at left and right; at the bottom center, two seated allegorical female figures are accompanied by a lion and a sheep, rendered in a classical engraved style. |
| Reverse lettering | NATIONALE BANK 50 BRUSSEL 50 VIJFTIG FRANKEN BETAALBAAR OP ZICHT H. HENDRICKX DEL. INV. ALBERT DOMS SC (Translation: National Bank Brussels Fifty Francs Payable at sight) |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The 1848 Hungarian revolution against Habsburg rule created an immediate practical problem: the new revolutionary government needed a functioning payment system independent of Vienna. The Magyar Kereskedelmi Bank, operating under the auspices of the revolutionary finance ministry led by Lajos Kossuth, issued these small-denomination notes to fill the void left by the withdrawal of Austrian currency from circulation. József Tyroler, a Budapest-based engraver of genuine reputation, executed the design work locally — a deliberate political statement about Hungarian self-sufficiency at a moment when everything was being contested by force.
The series was short-lived. Austrian military suppression of the revolution by mid-1849, aided by Russian intervention, rendered these notes worthless almost immediately upon Habsburg restoration.