Catalog
10 Dollars New York
| Issuer | Hungarian Fund (Kossuth Emigration) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black on white paper and carries the bold letterpress heading HUNGARIAN FUND at centre, above a text block promising payment of TEN DOLLARS on demand, one year after the establishment of the Independent Hungarian Government, redeemable at the National Treasury or at offices in London or New York. A central vignette at the top shows an allegorical group of three female figures — Liberty and attendants — in a classical composition with a shield and agricultural implements. To the lower left stands a full-length vignette of Kossuth Lajos in military dress, while to the lower right a female figure of Liberty raises a torch; the numeral X appears at upper left within an ornate lathe-work panel and 10 within a similar panel at upper right. The imprint of Danforth, Bald & Co., New York & Phila. appears at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
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| 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.