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| Issuer | Hungarian Royal Ministry of Finance |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Crowns (Koronás) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ÖTSZÁZ KORONA EZ AZ ÁLLAMJEGY, AMELY MAGYARORSZÁG FÜGGŐ ADÓSSÁGÁNAK RÉSZE, A TÖRVÉNY HATÁROZATAIHOZ KÉPEST MINDENKI ÁLTAL, VALAMINT MINDEN KÖZPÉNZTÁRNÁL FIZETÉS- KÉP TELJES NÉVÉRTÉKBEN ELFOGADANDÓ. BUDAPEST, 1920. ÉVI JANUÁR HÓ 1.-ÉN. AZ ÁLLAMJEGYEK UTÁNZÁSA A TÖRVÉNY SZERINT BÜNTETTETIK. ORELL FÜSSLI ZURICH (Translation: Five Hundred Crowns This treasury note, which is a part of Hungary`s pending debt, is to be accepted at face value by payment by everyone and in every public fund, according to the decisions of the law. Budapest, 1 January, 1920 Counterfeiting treasury notes is punishable by law) |
| Reverse description | Within an ornate guilloche border frame, the large bold denomination "ÖTSZÁZ KORONA" occupies the centre field, rendered in dark letterpress. The face value is repeated in five additional languages in the surrounding panels, each set within its own decorative cartouche along the borders. |
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| Comments |
Hungary's post-WWI financial position was severe enough that the new state couldn't print its own large-denomination notes domestically. Orell Füssli in Zurich handled the job — a Swiss firm with centuries of security printing experience, and politically neutral enough to be trusted with the work of a newly truncated nation still sorting out its borders under the Treaty of Trianon.
Helbing Ferenc's design work for this series is worth noting; he was one of the more capable Hungarian graphic artists of the period working in an applied commercial idiom. The 1920 date places this note in the early inflationary spiral that would eventually force Hungary to abandon the korona entirely in 1927, replaced by the pengő at a ratio of 12,500 to one.