European Silver Hungarian Revolution Commemorative Cup

Eastern European silver beaker commemorating the 1848 Hungarian Revolution.

• Tooled phrase on rim: “Ein andenken des Ungorshen Kriges der anfing den 23. Mai u. endugte sich den 14. October 1849”; it was in October 1849 that the rebel Hungarian generals were hung for treason.
• Sides inset with Austrian talers and Russian rubles from the 17th and 18th centuries above Hungarian kreuzers issued in 1848.
• Bottom with coin bearing a message of covert resistance in the form of St. George Slaying the Dragon.
• Foot featuring the name of a member of a noble Baltic family, the Barons von Ungern-Sternberg, a dynasty that included soldiers, writers and artists.
• Marks include 84 (that is the Russian alloy 84/96), which suggests that the beaker was made in Eastern Europe.
• Accompanied by two-page type script description.

At the time of the revolution in Hungary, which was part of the Austrian Empire, there was an attempt to abolish feudalism and establish in its place representative democracy. The radical changes, which included extending suffrage and freedom of the press, were resisted by the Habsburg rulers. When Austrian military intervention failed, Emperor Franz Joseph I sought help from the Russian Czar Nicholas I, who obliged with a large army. Thanks to Russian assistance, which was in fact an invasion, the revolution collapsed and Hungary was placed under martial law.