Hungarian 1970 2 Forint

[ghipszky]

I wanted to post this coin to learn what the letters, BP means. I think it is the mint mark and may stand for Budapest. Can anyone help with this question?
Ginger

[translateltd]

I believe you're right - I've always taken it to be the Budapest mintmark.

[Figleaf]

It makes sense to have a two-letter mint mark, as Budapest is the result of the unification of the cities of Buda and Pest in 1873.

The arms on this coin are now obsolete, as Hungary has reverted to its pre-communist arms. The shield is in the colours of the Hungarian flag, red-white-green. The shield holder is two ears of wheat, bound with a ribbon at the bottom and topped with a lone star. The star is a well-known symbol of communism and Texas, while the wreath stands for agriculture, so the symbolism seems to say communism is shining on agriculture and the Hungarian nation. Conspicuously missing is a reference to industry. The communist hammer and sickle logo refers to industry and agriculture. In communist economic theory they are the only productive services in the economy. Services and government are non-productive. Both were supposed to be replaced by brotherly love in the final stage of communist development.

Other communist countries (China and North Korea come to mind) also struggled with the industry-agriculture symbolism, primarily because they had little or no industry. However, Hungary did have an industry, making the absence of it in the symbology remarkable.

Peter

[Rasmus]

Hungary has hammer on his effigy right after war on stalinist era.
here is 2 forint 1950 km#548

[chrisild]

Theoretically "BP" could also mean Budapest Pénzverő (ie. Budapest Mint). But admittedly I do not what it actually refers to. BudaPest sounds at least as good to me.

Christian

[SpaBreda]

In 1990 they made a slightly different design ...
It had the Communist design, but the new Republic legend !
They are listed in Krause under transitional coinage ... doubt if they ever were released 

Paul.

[chrisild]

When I first saw that 2 forint coin (in my much younger years ), I was pleasantly surprised, by the way. Most "Eastern" European countries had fairly dull designs, often combined with aluminum as the preferred material, for their circulation coins. And here we had a pretty neat, modern look. I also found the 10 forint coin (with the giant "10" above the small CoA) quite interesting ...

Not sure either whether the "newer twoer" was actually released. The lower denominations from that 1990 series did sure circulate, but this one was replaced by a different piece after a short period of time.

Christian

[FosseWay]

A couple of asides on Communist CoAs:

1. The arms of the DDR apparently omitted agriculture, as they used the hammer and compasses.

2. The modern Belarusian arms are very similar in style to various Communist-era Soviet bloc arms (but with no hammer and sickle or equivalent), which is perhaps unsurprising given the outlook of the current government there. The locals disparagingly refer to their country's arms as капуста (the cabbage) because of its shape -- are/were similar nicknames prevalent in the other Communist countries?

3. The star features prominently in emblems of the Italian state and has done since the country's unification (it features, for example, at the top of the wreath on Italian centesimi coins from the 1860s). I used to think it was a somewhat self-consciously left-wing icon to incorporate into the Republic's arms in 1946, but of course I now know it's much older. What is its significance to Italy, or is it there just for decoration?

[chrisild]

The arms of the DDR apparently omitted agriculture, as they used the hammer and compasses.

Hmm, not quite. Eastern Germany had three arms on its coins: the first one, on the 1, 5 and 10 Pf post-war occupation coins, shows a gear(wheel) and an ear, maybe a wheat ear. (Interestingly, that design is not "originally communist" but based on a 1943 design.) The first GDR series showed a hammer, two barley ears, and a drafting compass; those symbols referred to the Five Year Plan. As from 1956 the CoA was displayed on the coins, with the hammer and the compass in the center, surrounded by ears. No star by the way.

As for the Italian star, that represents the one (unified) country. See here for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italia_Turrita - particularly the paragraph about the "Stella d'Italia".

Christian