Hungarian gold coins date as far back as the initial days of the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary. The very first gold coin mintage was between 997 and 1038 as a solidus of St. Stephen the first king. Others include those of King Charles and King Robert. These ancient gold coins are the inspiration behind the present-day series of The Hungary Gold Florin known as, “the Gold Florins of Medieval Hungary”, which debuted in 2012.
So far, there have been three versions of the Hungary Gold Florin in these series. All were designed by E.Tamás Soltra and their trading is sales tax- or VAT-free. The first of these series was the Charles I gold florins issued in 2012. The coin comes in the 10000-forint denomination, weighs 13.964g, is 20mm wide and has a gold fineness of .986. Unlike normal coins, the piefort version has edge lettering comprising, “KAROLUS · REX · FLORENUS · 1325” and Anjou House’s fleur de lis motif. The obverse has the text, “KAROLV REX” and St. John the Baptist’s imprint on the reverse.
The 2013 Gold Florin of Louis I and the 2014 Gold Florin of Mary also have both standard and piefort versions. They weigh 3.491g and 13.964g respectively. Their diameters and gold purity are equal to those of the Charles I version. The Florin of Louis I coin’s obverse has the face value, mint year and the inscriptions, “MAGYARORSZág” and “2013” around it while the face value, “FORINT” and “BP.” are in the middle. the reverse has the depiction of King St. Ladislaus with holding the battle axe and the inscription, “I.LAJOS 1342-1382 ARANYFORINTJA” around the coin.
The Gold Florin of Mary has the inscriptions “MAGYARORSZág”, “2014”, “BP”, face value, and “FORINT” around it on the obverse. With the shield in the middle. The reverse bears the depiction of King St. Ladislaus standing and holding the axe and crown in his right and left hands respectively. the inscriptions, “MARIA · 1382-1395” appear at the top-half section while the word, “SET” appears horizontally to the left. The text, “ARANYFORINTJA” runs anticlockwise at the bottom.
