Jaelus' Hungarian Patterns

Owner Comments:

This is a pattern of the Horthy 1939BP AR 5 pengő dated 1938. This is sometimes miscataloged as a circulating date but it is an unmarked pattern of which 60 specimens were struck. The mint produced a 5 pengő coin in 1938 featuring Saint Stephen to commemorate the 900th anniversary of his death instead of the Horthy issue. This issue is exceedingly rare, and some examples like this one may have seen actual circulation, similar to the US 1856 flying eagle cent.

Of note, the mint’s earliest use of a “Próbaveret” mark to indicate a pattern did not occur until four years later in 1943, which is why this coin is unmarked.