Hungarian pengő paper money was part of the physical form of Hungary's historical currency, the Hungarian pengő. Paper money usually meant banknotes, which were issued by the Hungarian National Bank. Later – during and after World War II – other types of paper money appeared, including emergency money, bonds and savings certificates. Initially, paper money was designed abroad, and printed using simple methods. Later, more advanced techniques were used, creating banknotes which reflected stability. After the war, in parallel with their loss in value, the quality of banknotes decreased. Finally, not even serial numbers were printed on the notes.
The first series of pengő banknotes were printed in 1926 in the following denominations: 5 P, 10 P, 20 P, 50 P, and 100 P. All these banknotes were designed by Ferenc Helbing. Due to the poorprinting technology counterfeits appeared in a short time. The situation was so serious that the banknotes soon had to be replaced with a new series. As a consequence, these belong to the most valued collector rarities among Hungarian banknotes.
Second series (1927–1932)
The first denomination of the second series of pengő banknotes was the 1000 pengő note, designed by Zoltán Egri. In contrast to the 1926 series, this banknote was printed using intaglio printing. The next banknote of the series was the 5 pengő note, then the 10 pengő, 20 and 100 pengő, and the 50 pengő notes. These banknotes were designed by Álmos Jaschik.
Low denomination series (1938)
In 1938, a series of 50 fillér, 1, 2, and 5 pengő bills were designed by Franke Rupert. The aim of the National Bank was to quickly supply the territories over which Hungary gained control under the First and Second Vienna Awards with low denomination money. However, only the 1 and 5 pengő bills were put into circulation, although printer's proofs of the others also exist. Since the amount of 1 P bills allowed by the serial number proved to be insufficient, a second issue was printed that was marked with a star in the serial number.
War series (1936–1941)
The first banknote of the series is the 10 pengő bill, which is dated 1936 but was not put into circulation earlier than 1939. This banknote was followed by the 5 pengő bill, then the 2 pengő and the 20 pengő bills
Series of banknotes were printed in Veszprém by the evacuated Szálasi government and circulated in the Nazi-ruled part of Hungary in 1944. First, the 100 P bill of 1930 and the 10 P bill of 1936 were reprinted in late 1944. These banknotes were marked with a star in the serial number, and are much less common than those without it. Some of the 100 P banknotes were overstamped with a 1000 P adhesive stamp – these were later replaced by the 1000 P bill of 1943. Later in 1944 there was a plan to issue a new series of 10, 100 and 1000 P banknotes – all designed by Endre Horváth. Due to lack of time, only the 1000 P bill was officially put into circulation, 100 P bills were printed but only used by the evacuated troops in Austria, the 10 P bill is only known as printer's proof. The 100 and 1000 P bills were designed using elements of earlier banknotes. In the last days of the Szálasi government, some of the bills were overstamped with a green arrow-cross stamp – however, most of these overstamped banknotes are considered to be fake : stamp inks are tend to be very fresh on these banknotes and it is not clear what the purpose of such overstamping would have been.
Postwar inflation series (1945–1946)
After the war the new democratic government suffered from serious lack of money, so it ordered the national bank to manufacture banknotes quickly and cheaply. There was little time to design new notes, so the plates of banknotes printed in 1926 were reused as well as portraits from other notes. Beginning with the 1000 pengő note, only denominations of integer powers of ten were used. The uncontrolled issue of banknotes aggravated inflation. In December 1945, the government tried to bring inflation under control by a one-off capital levy. This meant that the 1000, and pengő banknotes had to be overstamped with a stamp that could be bought for 3 times the value of the banknote. Unstamped banknotes were worth a quarter of their nominal value after this campaign. Later the pengő note was issued again in different colors – this banknote and higher denominations did not fall under the capital levy. Although there were plans to issue 10 billion pengő notes, denominations higher than one billion were renamed milpengő and the indicated value was reduced by a factor of one million. The next denomination after the one billion pengő note became the milpengő, which was equal to ten thousand million pengő, and had a similar design to the pengő note. The aim was to ease everyday money handling and accounting as well as to reuse the designs of earlier banknotes with little changes. After the one billion milpengő note a new abbreviation had to be used, since further higher denominations were necessary. This became the b.-pengő and the designs could be reused again with changes in the color and adding "B" letters. The highest printed denomination – the one billion b.-pengő note – was never released into circulation. This naming scheme and reuse of the designs is the reason for the cyclic pattern in the hyperinflation pengő notes. The cycle was 6 digit, meaning that notes with the same number before the denomination had the same design.
In 1944, during the Soviet occupation of Hungary, the Red Army issued paper money without cover in the areas under its control. These banknotes were of poor quality, and aggravated the inflation of the pengő.
