Catalog
| Issuer | Hungarian Fund (Kossuth Emigration) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Danforth, Bald & Co. |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | HUNGARIAN FUND. / INDEPENDENT HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT / TEN DOLLARS / Danforth, Bald & Co. New York & Phila. |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, showing only the faint blind impression of the obverse design through the paper, with no intentional design elements or text applied to this side. |
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| Comments |
Lajos Kossuth arrived in the United States in December 1851 to enormous public enthusiasm and immediately began raising funds for a Hungarian military campaign against Habsburg rule. These notes, authorized under the Hungarian Fund and printed by the highly regarded Philadelphia and New York security printer Danforth, Bald & Co., were intended as pre-revolutionary bonds — promises of repayment once a liberated Hungary could back them with a functioning treasury. That treasury never materialized.
The scheme collapsed quickly. U.S. federal authorities, under pressure not to antagonize Austria, moved to suppress the issue, and most notes were never placed into meaningful circulation. Kossuth left America in 1852 largely empty-handed.