Catalog
500 Forint
| Issuer | Magyar Nemzeti Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990 |
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| Designer(s) | Zoltán Nagy |
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| Obverse description | Purple and green intaglio-engraved note with a large oval portrait vignette at right centre of the Hungarian poet Ady Endre, his name inscribed on the oval frame below. The left field carries the denomination "ÖTSZÁZ FORINT" in bold letterpress, the issuer's name "MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK", and the date of issue "BUDAPEST, 1990. ÉVI JÚLIUS HÓ 31-ÉN", set over a radiating guilloche underprint incorporating the Hungarian coat of arms. Three manuscript signatures appear across the centre, and the anti-counterfeiting warning "A BANKJEGYHAMISÍTÁST A TÖRVÉNY BÜNTETI" runs along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Purple intaglio engraving with a large oval central vignette of a panoramic view of Budapest, with the Elizabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd) and Chain Bridge crossing the Danube in the foreground and the city skyline extending to the horizon. To the right, the numeral "500" appears within an elaborate guilloche rosette, with the serial number printed in red above and below it. The denomination "ÖTSZÁZ" and "500" are repeated in the top and bottom ornamental border bands. |
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| Comments |
The 1990 500 Forint arrived during one of Hungary's more turbulent monetary moments — the country was mid-transition from a command economy, and the forint was under sustained inflationary pressure throughout the late 1980s and into 1990. By 1995, 500 forints had lost enough purchasing power that this denomination was effectively obsolete for everyday transactions.
A print run of just over twelve million is relatively modest for a circulating denomination, which partly accounts for the difficulty in finding genuinely well-circulated examples — many were quickly superseded and withdrawn rather than worn out through normal use. Engraving duties were split, with Nagy handling the obverse himself and Gál Ferenc responsible for the reverse plate.