June 26, 2014 – The Magyar Nemzeti Bank is issuing a collector coin to mark the 90th anniversary of its foundation. The coin was designed by Gábor Kereszthury. The front has a motif suggesting the shares issued in 1924, alluding to the Bank’s foundation. The back depicts the facade of the main building on Szabadság tér (Liberty Square), which is still the Bank’s headquarters today. A silver, HUF 10,000 version and a HUF 2,000 non-ferrous version were minted.
Hungary/ 2,000 HUF/ 37 mm / 23.7 g/ Mintage: 5,000.
The upper part of the obverse of the coin bears a crest surrounded by a floral motif featuring on the frame of a share worth 100 gold crowns. Its compulsory elements of the coin are the inscription ‘MAGYARORSZÁG’, the value numeral 10000, the inscription ‘FORINT’, the mint mark ‘BP’ and the mint year ‘2014’.
The reverse features a detail of the corner of the MNB’s building viewed from Bank utca. The inscription in the upper circular legend reads ‘MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK’, in the same logotype as that used for the share, as well as the year 1924 in the middle, surrounded by an ornamental frame. The initials of applied artist Gábor Kereszthury are positioned on the right, next to the edge, between the legend and the building.
Silver version. Hungary/ HUF 10,000/ Silver .925/ 37 mm / 24 g/ Mintage: 5,000.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Hungary was ruled by the house of Habsburg. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the duties of the central bank were first carried out by the Austrian National Bank from 1 July 1816 and then by the Austro-Hungarian Bank created on 30 September 1878, which operated on a parity basis. The first independent Hungarian government formed during the Revolution of 1848 commissioned Pesti Magyar Kereskedelmi Bank to discharge central banking responsibilities. As a result of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was dissolved in October 1918 and the Austro-Hungarian Bank was liquidated. The duties of the central bank were taken over by the Royal Hungarian State Bank starting from 1 August 1921.
Szabadság tér (Liberty Square).
The foundation of an independent Hungarian central bank and the charter for the issue of banknotes was promulgated by Act V on 26 April 1924. The central bank’s inaugural meeting was held on 24 May 1924 in the Grand Hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the institution itself began work on 24 June in the form of a company limited by shares. Its capital stock was 30 million gold crowns, and 39.5% of the shares were subscribed by the state. The act founding the Bank stated that it was responsible for regulating the circulation of money, maintaining the solvency of the country and preserving the value of the national currency. The first governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank was Sándor Popovics, formerly governor of the Monarchy’s joint central bank, ex-finance minister and head of the State Bank.
You can visit the Central Bank of Hungary online.
And here ist the Link to the Hungarian Mint.