After the trauma of the Second World War and the hyperinflation of the pengő, the Hungarian government faced the problems of introducing a new currency.
However, the government feared hoarding of these coins, and the national bank lowered the mass and quality of silver in the 1947 minting.
The country's name was changed to Hungarian People's Republic (Magyar Népköztársaság), which appeared on the coins.
The 1 and 2 Forint coins were withdrawn from circulation on March 1, 2008, as announced in September 2007, as the cost of minting them was four times their face value.
[4] Reportedly, large numbers of 1 forint coins were illegally used in Canada in place of subway tokens, a highly profitable trade until the machines were reprogrammed.
Although Hungary is still a republic, this does not appear anymore on its coinage: from 2012 Hungarian legal tender will bear the country's new official name, "Magyarország".