Tom Babinszki, WINS#919
Hungary is a goldmine for numismatists. Throughout the last couple of thousands of years, many tribes, nations and ethnicities occupied the land, and even more traveled through it. Many roads cross Hungary, and to get to many places travelers often had to pass through. The Hungarians settled in the Carpathian Basin in the year of 896. The prior major occupation was the Roman Empire. Most of the archeological finds are either of Roman origin, or coinage of the Hungarian kings. It is not uncommon to find batches of coins in the ground, particularly near the river Danube. In the last few decades many of these founds ended up in private collections, and often sold for very cheap, most likely under current value.
This huge diversity of coinage made many people interested, not only those who were in for a quick and small profit, but many well-to-do people started building their numismatic collection or donated to museums. They were also instrumental in documenting the coinage over the centuries.
Coins of the last couple of centuries also hold a lot to learn about for the collector. Hungary has replaced its currency twice during the 20th century. An interesting fact is that the largest inflation happened in Hungary, right after World War II, which is quite well documented in other languages as well.
The one obstacle a numismatist will find is the Hungarian language. During the previous centuries many documents were created in German or Latin, but these days most publications are in Hungarian, which is practically impossible to understand without knowing the language. At this point, there is a major shortage of information about Hungarian numismatics in more widely spoken languages, however, it is also true that many numismatists speak other languages, so when conversing with local people, language will not necessarily be a barrier.
There are several collections of numismatic materials,, probably the most famous one is the collection of the Hungarian National Museum, which can be found in Budapest. The numismatic collection goes back more than a hundred years, originally much of it was donated by collectors and numismatists.
Two larger collections can be found in the Szent Istvan Kiraly Muzeum in Székesfehérvár, and in the Mora Ferenc Muzeum in Szeged. These cities can be reached by train or bus from Budapest.
It is also worth noting that since many archeaological discoveries were made in Hungary, many museums have coins in their collection.
The National Bank is responsible for overseeing the minting of Hungarian coins, which is carried out by the Magyar Penzvero ZRT, which is practically the Hungarian Mint. The National Bank has a museum at the visitor center, and the Mint also operates a shop where people can buy mint products. This shop is also available online, they ship outside of Hungary and accept major credit cards and currencies.
In Budapest, one can enroll to the Szechenyi library, where all books are placed after publication. Though it is not a loan library, one can read anything there, including many of the older German and Latin publications. Practically, here one can find the most information ever published in Hungary. While books cannot be taken outside of the library, reading services are available and visitors can copy information.
Magyar Numizmatikai Társulat, the Hungarian Numismatic Society. The oldest organization of its kind, they operate the only existing numismatic library in Hungary.
Magyar Éremgyüjtök Egyesülete, in rough translation, union of Hungarian coin collectors. They have a few thousand members and they meet regularly.
Most coin shops are in Budapest, they are relatively small but diverse. One can find great Hungarian coins at reasonable prices. Generally there is a trend to collect world coins in Hungary, so coins of other countries are not rare either. Many of these shops can be found around the Western Train Station.
The list wouldn't be complete without mentioning the flea market on the southern part of Budapest, called Ecseri Piac. They open early on Saturday morning, and one can find anything there. Often numismatic items, cheap and valuable, real or fake. Bargaining is a must, it is built into the prices. If you don't speak Hungarian it is probably, too. If you are willing to spend the time, you can find very nice deals.