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10 000 B.‑Pengő
| Issuer | Magyar Nemzeti Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | An oval intaglio vignette to the right contains a left-facing portrait of an allegorical woman wearing a tiara, set within an ornate foliate and scrollwork frame; the Hungarian coat of arms appears below the portrait. The denomination "TÍZEZER B.-PENGŐ" is printed in large letterpress text to the left, above the issuer name "MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK" and the date "BUDAPEST, 1946. ÉVI JÚNIUS HÓ 3.-ÁN". Two manuscript signatures appear below, attributed to the Főtanácsos and Vezérigazgató, with large decorative "B" cartouches at each upper corner and a guilloche underprint throughout. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark brownish-purple on an unprinted ground and composed entirely of ornamental letterpress work. A large central horizontal guilloche oval bears the numeral "10000" flanked by the word "TÍZEZER" on each side; acanthus scrollwork and foliate vignettes fill the surrounding field. Large "B" cartouches occupy each corner, and the legend "TÍZEZER B.-PENGŐ" appears twice across the upper portion of the design. |
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| Comments |
The B.-Pengő — short for Billió-Pengő, or trillion Pengő — was created specifically to cope with the most severe hyperinflation ever recorded. Hungary's postwar monetary collapse dwarfed even Weimar Germany: at the peak in July 1946, prices were doubling roughly every fifteen hours, and the total value of all banknotes in circulation amounted to a fraction of one U.S. cent.
The 10,000 denomination, extraordinary as it sounds, was not the highest issued in the series. By the time the Forint reform arrived on 1 August 1946, one Forint was pegged at 400 octillion Pengő.
Both Helbing and Franke worked within the Hungarian printing establishment — the notes were produced domestically under conditions of severe material shortage, which occasionally shows in uneven ink distribution across surviving examples.