50 000 Korona

Hungary's postwar hyperinflationary spiral forced the Royal Ministry of Finance to commission emergency high-denomination notes abroad — Orell Füssli in Zurich, one of Europe's most capable security printers, produced this 50,000 Korona at a point when the denomination, enormous by prewar standards, was already struggling to cover basic transactions. The korona's collapse was swift enough that notes like this one became obsolete within months of issue.

Traugott Willi's engraving is the one genuinely distinguished element here. A craftsman associated with Swiss-quality intaglio work, his name in the imprint is a reliable indicator of the fine line quality that sets Orell Füssli's Hungarian commissions apart from the cruder domestic emergency printings of the same period.