MNB ISSUES BICENTENNIAL COMMEMORATIVE COIN IN HONOUR OF BÉNI EGRESSY

Budapest, 22 April 2014 – On 22 April 2014, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank issued a silver and a cupronickel collector coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer, librettist and playwright Béni Egressy. The obverse of the coin bears some notes of the melody written to Mihály Vörösmarty’s poem Szózat, which propelled Egressy to national fame. The reverse of the coin bears the composer’s bust and signature. A man of many talents, Egressy translated plays and librettos, composed landmark Hungarian art songs and was himself the librettist of three of Ferenc Erkel’s most significant operas featuring historical characters Mária Bátori, László Hunyadi and Bánk bán. Known as the father of Hungarian national opera, Erkel praised Egressy to writer Géza Gárdonyi at a virtuoso pianist’s concert in his late years: “This is exactly how Egressy used to play, all trills and thrills. One must wonder where he found so many melodies.” The collector coin was designed by sculptor László Szlávics Jr

Budapest, 22 April 2014 – On 22 April 2014, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank issued a silver and a cupronickel collector coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer, librettist and playwright Béni Egressy. The obverse of the coin bears some notes of the melody written to Mihály Vörösmarty’s poem Szózat, which propelled Egressy to national fame. The reverse of the coin bears the composer’s bust and signature. A man of many talents, Egressy translated plays and librettos, composed landmark Hungarian art songs and was himself the librettist of three of Ferenc Erkel’s most significant operas featuring historical characters Mária Bátori, László Hunyadi and Bánk bán. Known as the father of Hungarian national opera, Erkel praised Egressy to writer Géza Gárdonyi at a virtuoso pianist’s concert in his late years: “This is exactly how Egressy used to play, all trills and thrills. One must wonder where he found so many melodies.” The collector coin was designed by sculptor László Szlávics Jr

The obverse of the coin bears the notes for the first line of the poem Szózat (“Hazádnak rendületlenül”) in the mid-section with the value numeral “10,000” and, adjusted slightly to the left, the inscription “FORINT” above. The lower section of the obverse displays the country name “MAGYARORSZÁG”, the mint year “2014” and the mint mark “BP.”.

The reverse of the coin is dominated by the bust of Béni Egressy with the inscription “BÉNI EGRESSY” to the left and the dates of his birth and death “1814–1851” to the right, both arranged in semi-circles. The designer mark of László Szlávics Jr. is above the left shoulder of the bust and above the right shoulder is the symbol “Euro-Star”, the common emblem of the international commemorative coin series “EUROPA”, whose 2014 theme is “European composers”.

The collector coin is struck in .925 fine silver, weighs 24 grams, is 37 mm in diameter and has a milled edge. The cupronickel version weighs 23.7 grams, has the same diameter and the same coin design as the silver version except for the value numeral “2000”.
The mintage limit is 5000 pieces in proof (PP) finish for the silver and 5000 pieces in brilliant uncirculated (BU) finish for the cupronickel version.

Beginning in 2014, each precious metal commemorative coin will be issued in a less expensive cupronickel version to benefit collectors who wish to buy the same artistic theme at a more affordable price. By issuing lower-priced versions, the MNB and the Hungarian Mint would also like to encourage younger generations to collect commemorative coins. Thus, the commemorative coin honouring Béni Egressy is issued in a cupronickel version with a face value of HUF 2000 but with the identical coin design as the HUF 10,000 silver coin.

The collector coin is distributed by the Hungarian Mint Ltd. and is on sale from 22 April 2014 at the coin shop of the Hungarian Mint (Budapest, V. ker., Hold u. 17.) and in the Mint’s webshop (www.penzvero.hu), where a number of collector coins produced from gold, silver and non-ferrous metals issued earlier are also on sale.