Catalog
1 Forint Philadelphia
| Issuer | Hungarian Revolutionary Government (Kossuth Emigration Issue) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is executed in fine intaglio, printed in black on white paper. At centre, an oval vignette encloses a standing Hungarian warrior in classical garb, surrounded by cannon, cannonballs, and Hungarian flags, with the patriotic motto 'ISTENÉRT; HAZÁÉRT; SZABADSÁGÉRT' encircling the frame. To the left, an allegorical female group vignette and a numeral '1' cartouche are set within guilloche borders, while a matching '1' within an intricate lace-pattern roundel occupies the upper right; the denomination 'EGY FORINT' appears in bold letterpress banners both at top centre and lower centre, with the text of the guarantee legend in Hungarian script flanking the central vignette, and the facsimile signature of Kossuth Lajos in manuscript at lower right above the printer's imprint. |
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| Obverse lettering | EGY FORINT ISTENÉRT; HAZÁÉRT SZABADSÁGÉRT Ezen pénzjegy minden magyar álladalmi és közpénztárban egy ezüst forint, vagy is három huszas gyanánt elfogadtatik, s teljes névszerinti értéke a' közállomány által biztosíttatik. Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. Phila. |
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| Comments |
Lajos Kossuth arrived in the United States in December 1851 to raise money and political support for a renewed Hungarian uprising against Habsburg rule. These notes — printed by one of Philadelphia's most respected security printing firms, the same house responsible for much of early American banknote production — were never legal tender anywhere. They were fundraising instruments, sold to American sympathizers as both a political statement and a promissory claim on a future independent Hungarian treasury that never materialized.
Kossuth signed each note personally. That signature, combined with the Philadelphia imprint, makes the paper as much a relic of nineteenth-century American immigrant politics as it is a numismatic object.