Ten quadrillion (10 000 000 000 000 000) Pengos, 1946, Hungary. Pick #132

The denomination B.-Pengő meant one billion pengoes, i.e., 10^12. Thus, this denomination was for 10^16 pengoes. These notes were printed re-using the designs of the earlier 10,000 pengo (P#119) and 10,000 million pengo (P#126) notes.

After World War II, Hungarian hyperinflation of 1945–1946 became one of the most extreme cases of hyperinflation ever recorded. As the economy lay in ruins and the government printed money to cover massive deficits, prices spiraled out of control at an almost unimaginable rate - doubling sometimes within hours. To keep up, Hungary issued banknotes with absurdly large denominations, including the pengő, then the milpengő (millions of pengő), and eventually the b.-pengő (billions of pengő). The most famous was the 100 quintillion (10²⁰) pengő note, among the highest denomination banknotes ever printed. Despite these astronomical figures, the currency quickly became worthless, forcing Hungary to abandon the pengő entirely and introduce the forint in August 1946, finally stabilizing the economy.

SKU bh883-w77586