A silver coin will soon be minted in honor of the two Hungarian scientists who won the Nobel Prize this year.
At the end of each year, the MNB publishes the following year's coin issuance program with the parameters and graphic designs of the coins. Over time, the program may be expanded with elements that come into the national bank's field of vision, Eszter Hergár, the central bank's director responsible for social relations, told InfoRádio.
Medals commemorating Ferenc Deák and the founding of the Kúria were included in this year's plans, but in response to recent events, the Nobel Prize series launched in 2012 will also be expanded with 20,000 minted pieces - with Katalin Karikó and Ferenc Krausz.
It is expected that the new Nobel coins will sell out as soon as they are put on the market, as was the case with previous "extra issues", for example the Transylvanian Hound of the Hungarian Shepherd and Hunting Dog Breeds series also immediately sold 20,000 copies, also the first piece of the series sold out in a few hours.
Negotiations are already taking place within the Hungarian National Bank regarding the Nobel laureates' coins, the coin is being designed, and for the sake of clarity: it will be two different coins.
The oval coin series was started with Albert Szent-Györgyi eleven years ago, Imré Kertész was minted last year, and György Oláh is also being planned.
The release date of the Karikó and Krausz coins will also be announced soon.
Eszter Hergár even said that Katalin Karikó will only be half a "debutant" at the MNB.
"Last year, in recognition of Katalin Karikó's work, we issued a HUF 15,000 nominal silver coin and a HUF 3,000 nominal commemorative coin with Katalin Karikó's contribution named after the invention of mRNA-based vaccines. It's an interesting shape: a square commemorative coin placed at its peak".
In recent years, according to his experience, interest has increased not only in silver and non-ferrous metals, but also in gold commemorative coins.
“There is a very strong collector base that buys every coin. In addition, the choice of theme can also help a lot, and it can also have a kind of value-preserving feature, there are those who buy the higher-value coins for investment purposes," he added.
