Hungary P122 1000000 Pengő 1945 VF+ Very Fine Plus—Kossuth Lajos—Lake Balaton

Banknote Characteristics

• Varieties: Single variety — P-122, issued 16 November 1945 by the Provisional Government
• Color: Obverse — details below; Reverse — details below
• Front: Portrait of Kossuth Lajos, leader of the 1848 Revolution against Habsburg rule
• Back: Painting “At the Shores of Lake Balaton” by Géza Mészöly; denomination in Hungarian, German, and Serbo-Croatian
• Watermark: Not specified
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 169 × 83 mm
• Issuing entity: Hungarian National Bank (Magyar Nemzeti Bank)
• Demonetized: Yes — 6 May 1946
• Signatures: Not specified
• Currency: Hungarian Pengő (1927–1946)

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
• 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 under Attila; empire collapsed after his death
  • Germanic and Avar kingdoms (469–895)
  • Magyar conquest (895) — Magyars from the Ural region, arrived under Árpád
  • Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1526) — founded by Stephen I
  • Battle of Mohács (1526) — Ottoman victory; Hungary partitioned
  • Habsburg rule (1526–1867)
  • Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy (1867–1918)
  • Horthy Regency (1920–1944) — Treaty of Trianon (1920) stripped ~72% of territory
  • Arrow Cross / German occupation (1944–1945)
  • Provisional Government (1944–1945) — this note issued during this period
  • “People’s Republic” (1949–1989) — communist dictatorship, Soviet satellite state
  • Republic (1989–date)

Hungary Unfiltered

The Pengő 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 1,000,000 Pengő note — an almost incomprehensible sum when the Pengő was introduced in 1927 — was worth less than a loaf of bread within months of issue.

Kossuth Lajos, whose portrait appears on the front, led the 1848 Revolution against Habsburg rule — one of the most dramatic bids for Hungarian independence in history. He was eventually forced into exile and died in Turin in 1894, never returning to Hungary. He remains one of the most revered figures in Hungarian national memory.

Lake Balaton on the reverse — painted by Géza Mészöly in the 19th century — is Central Europe’s largest lake and Hungary’s most beloved landscape. Placing a serene lakeside painting on a note issued amid economic catastrophe was either an act of defiant national pride or a profound irony — possibly both.

The Provisional Government that issued this note was itself a transitional body between the Arrow Cross collapse and the communist takeover. It was printing currency to fund a country that had just been liberated and devastated simultaneously by the Soviet advance.

One Million. And It Was Already Too Late.

When the Pengő was introduced in 1927, it was a model of monetary stability — pegged, respected, modern. By November 1945, when this note was issued, the denomination “1,000,000” had already become routine. The Provisional Government was printing millions because thousands no longer bought anything. Within six months, even millions would be obsolete — replaced by the milpengő (million Pengő) and then the b.-pengő (billion Pengő) as the collapse accelerated beyond the capacity of language to describe it.

The Revolutionary on the Note

Kossuth Lajos was the closest thing Hungary had to a founding father who failed. In 1848, he led a revolution that briefly made Hungary an independent republic — abolishing serfdom, establishing a free press, and drafting a constitution — before the Habsburgs crushed it with Russian military help. Kossuth spent the rest of his life in exile, issuing proclamations from Turin that nobody in power listened to. He died in 1894 without ever seeing Hungary free. Placing his face on a note issued by a government trying to rebuild from rubble was a statement of continuity — we are still the nation he fought for.

A Painting of Calm on a Note Issued in Crisis

The reverse reproduces “At the Shores of Lake Balaton” by Géza Mészöly — a 19th-century Realist landscape of Hungary’s great inland sea. Lake Balaton is 77 km long, the largest lake in Central Europe, and has been the symbolic heart of Hungarian summer life for centuries. The choice to put a tranquil lakeside scene on a note issued amid the worst inflation in human history is either an act of extraordinary defiance or extraordinary denial. Either way, it is one of the more quietly poignant design decisions in the entire Pengő series.

Own a Note From the Million-Pengő Moment

The P-122 sits at the inflection point — the moment when Hungarian denominations crossed into seven figures and kept going. It is the note that made “one million” feel ordinary. In VF-XF condition, Kossuth’s portrait is still sharp, the Balaton landscape still legible, the engraving still doing its job on a note that the economy had already abandoned.

Kossuth looks out from the front. The lake is calm on the back. The Pengő had six months left to live.