2 Forint Treasury Note

These notes were produced in extraordinary volume during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848–49, when the revolutionary government under Kossuth desperately needed a functioning monetary system independent of Vienna. The Kincstári utalvány series — Treasury vouchers rather than formally chartered banknotes — was a improvised solution to that political rupture. Duschek, as Finance Minister, co-signed alongside Kossuth, whose name alone carried enormous popular authority and helped drive public acceptance of the paper.

Printing was handled domestically in Pest under considerable pressure, and quality control suffered accordingly. Counterfeiting became a serious problem almost immediately, partly because the printing equipment and paper stocks were inferior to Habsburg standards.

Austrian military victory in August 1849 rendered the entire series worthless within weeks of issue.