Hungary P112 100 Pengő 1945 VF+ Very Fine Plus —Budapest—Danube—Castle—Prettiest Note?

Banknote Characteristics

• Varieties: Single variety — P-112 is the Veszprém reissue (1944–1945) of the original P-98 (issued 1 July 1930); distinguished by an asterisk (*) before the block number on the obverse
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 177 × 93 mm
• Issuing entity: Hungarian National Bank (Magyar Nemzeti Bank)
• Printer: Hungarian Banknote Printing Co., Budapest
• Demonetized: Yes — 6 May 1946
• Signatures: Not specified for P-112 reissue
• Currency: Hungarian Pengő (1927–1946)

Front (Obverse) — Design Detail

• Movement: Szecesszió (Hungarian Art Nouveau) hardening into Art Deco — organic forms disciplined into geometry, nature pressed into the service of the state; designed by Álmos Jaschik, engraved by Franke Rupert
• Color: Dominant deep claret-red (burgundy) intaglio ink chosen for a security reason: early 20th-century orthochromatic photographic film was blind to red wavelengths — to a counterfeiter’s camera, this ink would appear black or vanish entirely, making a clean photographic plate nearly impossible; beneath it, a rainbow offset underprint transitions smoothly through olive green, pale yellow, and soft violet — a shimmering gradient no single-color press could replicate
• Typography: Denomination “SZÁZ PENGŐ” in a high-contrast Art Deco serif with heavy vertical strokes, thin horizontals, and a drop-shadow effect giving a three-dimensional “carved in stone” appearance
• Guilloché background: Thousands of overlapping micro-fine lines forming chrysanthemum and dahlia rosettes; varying densities create a visual watermark effect that defeats scanners — every element is doing security work
• Portrait: King Matthias I (Corvinus) (1440–1490) encased in a geometric knotwork frame whose corner lines swell into bud-tips — as if the border is a living branch wrapped around the king’s likeness
• Heraldic elements: Hungarian Coat of Arms (shield with the Holy Crown) flanked by two winged angels whose robes dissolve into the surrounding scrollwork
• Acanthus pillar: Left border anchored by a vertical column rising from a thick acanthus leaf base — a Mediterranean symbol of enduring life since Roman times; stylized vines climb the border, terminating in delicate “S” scrolls
• Tone: “Ordered Nature” — the visual equivalent of a fortress built with the latest 1930s technology; a deliberate projection of ancient, unbreakable sovereignty after the territorial losses of Trianon

Back (Reverse) — Design Detail

• Color: Similar claret-red and green palette; complementary rainbow underprint
• Central scene: Buda Castle (Budavári Palota) with hillside deciduous tree canopies individually engraved — not hatched in blocks, but rendered leaf by leaf, representing the “Green Budapest” of the era
• Turul bird: The mythological Turul hawk crowns the scene; its feathers engraved with such precision they mimic the scale patterns of Hungarian folk embroidery
• Languages: Denomination inscribed in Hungarian, German, Slovak, Romanian, Rusyn, and Serbo-Croatian in both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets — reflecting the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary
• Pomegranate rosettes: Large, round, textured fruit shapes at the top of the side panels — a pan-European symbol of fertility and overflowing wealth
• Folk tulip: At the base center, a cluster of three stylized tulips — the “queen of flowers” in Hungarian folk art — a deliberate move to make the currency feel “of the people” rather than a product of a distant central bank
• Clover spacers: Four-petaled corner ornaments behind the “100” numerals — the final organic anchors for the geometric layout
• Tone: Hard elements balanced by soft ones — the King and the Castle held in place by tulips and pomegranates; less a banknote than a national monument pressed flat

About Hungary

• Capital: Budapest (city pop. ~1.7 million; metro ~3.3 million)
• Population: ~9.6 million (UN 2023)
• Area: 93,028 km² (35,920 mi²) post-Trianon — similar to Portugal or Indiana; the historic Kingdom of Hungary was ~325,000 km² (125,500 mi²) — similar to Poland or Montana
• GDP per capita at PPP: ~$40,000 USD (IMF 2024) — ranks ~45th out of 193 globally
• Main exports: Vehicles and automotive parts, machinery, electronics, pharmaceuticals
• Borders: Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia
• Official/spoken language: Hungarian (Magyar) (~98% of population) — a Uralic language unrelated to any of its neighbors, spoken by ~13 million people worldwide
• Sovereignty:
  • Pannonia — Roman province (1st century AD–433); before Rome, home to Celtic and Illyrian tribes
  • Hunnic Empire (433–469) — Huns arrived from the Eurasian steppe (Central Asia) under Attila; empire collapsed after his death
  • Germanic and Avar kingdoms (469–895)
  • Magyar conquest (895) — Magyars from the Ural region, arrived under Árpád, displacing/absorbing Slavs/Avars
  • Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1526) — founded by Stephen I, ruling Transylvania, Croatia and Dalmatia, Slovakia, Transcarpathia, and Vojvodina
  • Battle of Mohács (1526) — Ottoman victory; Hungary split into: Ottoman-occupied central Hungary, semi-autonomous Transylvania, and Royal Hungary (most = today’s Slovakia) under the Habsburgs
  • Habsburg rule (1526–1867) — Ottomans expelled by 1699; Hungary subject to Vienna
  • Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy (1867–1918) — Hungary co-equal partner with Austria, ruling a vast multi-ethnic empire
  • Horthy Regency (1920–1944)
    • Treaty of Trianon (1920) — Hungary lost ~72% of its territory and ~64% of its population: Transylvania to Romania; Slovakia and Transcarpathia to Czechoslovakia; Vojvodina to Yugoslavia; Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia to Yugoslavia and Italy; Burgenland to Austria
  • Arrow Cross / German occupation (1944–1945) — this note issued during this period
  • “People’s Republic” (1949–1989) — communist dictatorship, Soviet satellite state; USSR crushed the 1956 uprising
  • Republic (1989–date)

Hungary Unfiltered

The Pengő that appears on this note became the most hyperinflated currency in recorded human history. By July 1946, prices were doubling every 15 hours. The largest denomination ever printed was the 100 quintillion Pengő (10²⁰). This 100 Pengő note — once a significant sum — became worth less than the paper it was printed on within months of issue.

The Arrow Cross regime that reissued this note in Veszprém murdered tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews in its final months — including death marches to Austria in winter 1944–1945 — while simultaneously printing currency to fund a war already lost.

King Matthias I on the obverse was Hungary’s last truly independent king before Ottoman conquest. He built one of Renaissance Europe’s finest libraries, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, and is still celebrated in Hungarian folk songs. He died in 1490; within 36 years, the kingdom he ruled was shattered at Mohács.

The Turul bird on the reverse is a mythological hawk said to have guided the Magyar tribes to the Carpathian Basin in 895. It was adopted as a symbol by both the Horthy regime and later the Arrow Cross — making its appearance on this note historically loaded in ways the original 1930 designers could not have anticipated.

A Masterpiece Printed at the Edge of Catastrophe

This note was designed in 1930, at the height of Hungary’s interwar cultural ambition, and reissued in 1944–1945 from Veszprém — a provincial city — as the Arrow Cross government fled Budapest ahead of the Soviet advance. The same engraving plates that produced one of the most beautiful banknotes in European history were now being used by a collapsing fascist regime to print currency nobody wanted. The asterisk before the block number is the only visible sign that something had gone terribly wrong.

The Red Ink That Fooled Cameras

The dominant claret-red intaglio ink wasn’t chosen for aesthetics alone. Early 20th-century photographic film was orthochromatic — effectively blind to red wavelengths. To a counterfeiter’s camera, this ink would appear black or vanish entirely, making a clean photographic plate nearly impossible. Beneath it, a rainbow offset underprint shifts smoothly through olive green, pale yellow, and soft violet — a shimmering gradient no single-color press could replicate. The security logic is baked into the beauty.

A Political Landscape in Ink and Engraving

After the catastrophic territorial losses of Trianon — which stripped Hungary of 72% of its land — the 1930 design was a deliberate act of cultural assertion. The heavy, almost architectural Neoclassicism mixed with the aggressive precision of modern security printing was the visual equivalent of a fortress. Szecesszió — the Hungarian branch of Art Nouveau — had by 1930 begun hardening into the more industrial discipline of Art Deco: organic forms tightened into geometry, flowers pressed into the service of the state. This note sits exactly at that inflection point.

King Matthias in a Living Frame

The portrait of Matthias Corvinus sits inside a frame of geometric knotwork whose corner lines don’t simply terminate — they swell into bud-tips, as if the border is a living branch wrapped around the king’s likeness. Flanking the Coat of Arms are two winged angels whose robes dissolve into the surrounding scrollwork. To the left, an acanthus column — the Mediterranean symbol of enduring life since Roman times — anchors the composition. Behind all of it: thousands of micro-fine guilloché lines forming chrysanthemum and dahlia rosettes, their varying densities creating a visual watermark effect that defeats scanners. This is not decoration. Every element is doing security work.

The Castle, the Bird, and the Flowers of the People

The reverse centers on Buda Castle, its hillside tree canopies individually engraved — not hatched in blocks, but rendered leaf by leaf. Above it, the Turul’s feathers are cut to mimic the scale patterns of Hungarian folk embroidery. At the base, three stylized tulips — the “queen of flowers” in Hungarian folk art — ground the composition in the soil rather than the palace. Pomegranate rosettes (fertility, overflowing wealth) frame the multilingual denomination panels. Hard elements balanced by soft ones: the King and the Castle held in place by tulips and pomegranates. It is less a banknote than a national monument pressed flat.

Own the Most Beautiful Note of Hungary’s Most Terrible Year

The P-112 exists at the precise intersection of artistic peak and historical nadir. This piece of paper held both things at once: extraordinary craft and extraordinary collapse. In VF-XF condition, the guilloché garden is still crisp, the claret ink still deep, the Turul still sharp above the castle.

A note that survived the end of a regime, the end of a currency, and eight decades — and still looks like it was made to last forever.