Hungarian Forint - Banknotes

Banknotes

In 1946, 10 and 100 forint notes were introduced by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Hungarian National Bank). A new series of higher quality banknotes (10, 20 and 100 forint) were introduced in 1947-48. 50 forint notes were added in 1953, 500 forint notes were introduced in 1970, followed by 1000 forint in 1983, 5000 forint in 1991.

A completely redesigned new series of 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000 and 20 000 forint was introduced gradually between 1997 and 2001. Each banknote depicts a famous Hungarian leader or politician on the obverse and a place or event related to him on the reverse. All of the banknotes are watermarked, contain an embedded vertical security strip and suitable for the visually impaired people. The 1000 forint and higher denominations are protected by an interwoven holographic security strip. The notes share the common size of 154 × 70 mm. The banknotes are printed by the Hungarian Banknote Printing Corp. in Budapest on the paper manufactured by the Diósgyőr Papermill in Miskolc.

Commemorative banknotes were also issued recently: 1000 and 2000 forint notes to commemorate the millennium (in 2000) and 500 forint note to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 revolution (in 2006).

Forgery of forint banknotes is not significant. However, forged 20 000 forint notes printed on the paper of 2000 forint notes after dissolving the original ink might come up and are not easy to recognize. Another denomination preferred by counterfeiters was the 1000 forint note until improved security features were added in 2006.