Banknotes of the Yugoslav dinar explained

See main article: Yugoslav dinar. The banknotes of the Yugoslav dinar were several series of paper money printed by the central bank of the different consecutive states named Yugoslavia (Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

1919 dinar

The first dinar banknotes printed by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were ½, 1, 5, 10, 20, 100 and 1000 dinar banknotes printed in 1919. They were the continuation of the pre-WWI Serbian dinar and had the same value. The banknotes were overstamped with the value in Austro-Hungarian krone (Serbo-croatian: Kruna) to make the conversion easier (in the rate 1 dinar = 4 krone). Some ½ and 1 dinar banknotes were issued before the overstamping started, so they had no krone value stamped. The stamp on the 1 dinar = 4 krone banknote had a printing error: instead of the Cyrillic text "4 КРУНЕ", the text read "4 КУРНЕ".^[1]

1919 "Dinar - Kruna" Series
Image		Value	Image size (mm)	Main Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn^[2]
		½ dinara = 2 krune	80 х 51	Red	Coat of arms of the Kingdom	Indication of value (in French)		1919
		1 dinar = 4 krune	110 x 77	Yellow	Miloš Obilić
		5 dinara = 20 kruna	110 x 75	Violet
		10 dinara = 40 kruna	153 x 92	Blue	A metalsmith
		20 dinara = 80 kruna	150 x 90	Brown	A man ploughing	Harvest
		100 dinara = 400 kruna	177 x 112	Red	Four boys	Four female busts
		1,000 dinara = 4,000 kruna	240 x 132	Blue	Two female busts and four figures in a circle	Six figures

1920 dinar

The first dinar note was the ¼ dinara (25 para) note issued in 1921 by the Ministry of the Finances of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Starting in 1922, the National Bank of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes issued notes for 10, 100 and 1,000 dinara. The 10 dinara note was engraved and printed by the American Bank Note Company.^[3] In 1926 the design of the 10 dinara bill was changed.^[4]

1920 - 1921 Series
Image		Value	Image size (mm)	Main Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		¼ dinara (25 para)	92 x 62	Blue (obverse)Red (reverse)	Gračanica Monastery	Lake Bled with a church;Ban Jelačić statue in Zagreb
		10 dinara	142 x 81	Blue	male nude with wheel	rocky landscape
		100 dinara	156 x 80	Yellow	a woman with sword; Belgrade skyline	ships and a peasant boy
		1,000 dinara	182 x 108	Violet	Saint George and the Dragon	man ploughing,different cities (Sarajevo, Belgrade, Ljubljana and Zagreb)
1926 Issue
		10 dinara	115 x 68	Red	a woman with a laurel wreath	coat of arms, silhouette of a church

Following the change of the country's name to Yugoslavia in 1929, the bank notes changed as well. New 10 dinara notes were printed that were the same as the old ones with a changed name and a new design of 100 dinara note was issued. In the following years each, other denominations were redesigned, including the 1,000 dinara notes in 1931 and 500 dinara notes in 1935.

1929 - 1935 Series
Image		Value	Image size (mm)	Paper size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
Obverse	Reverse
		10 dinara	115 x 68		Red	a woman with a laurel wreath	coat of arms, silhouette of a church
		100 dinara	115 x 68		Violet	a woman with sword; Belgrade skyline	ships and a peasant boy
		1,000 dinara	181 x 112	195 x 121	Yellow	Queen Maria of Yugoslavia	two women, one with a sickle and wheat, another with sword and coat-of-arms
		500 dinara	169 x 100	183 x 114	Blue	King Peter	women harvesting
Reserve banknotes
		10 dinara	115 x 60		Green	King Peter Old Bridge in Mostar	a woman		early April 1941
		20 dinara	125 x 70		Brown	King Peter	a woman
		50 dinara	134 x 78		Brown	King Aleksandar	Ivan Meštrović's statue of Prince Marko riding his horse Šarac
		100 dinara		171 x 104	Violet	a woman and a soldier	two working women, city of Dubrovnik in background		Never officially issued, but some notes were circulated.
		1,000 dinara		190 x 122		three horsemen and a woman a teacher and a pupil	a fisherman and a blacksmith
		10,000 dinara		230 x 115	Brown	King Peter	two farm workers
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

1944 dinar

In 1944, the Democratic Federation of Yugoslavia issued notes for 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 dinara.

1944 Series
Image	Value	Size (mm)^[5]	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
	1 dinar	90 x 50	grey-brown	partisan with a gun	coat of arms indication of value	1944
	5 dinara	97 x 54	blue
	10 dinara	100 x 55	yellow-brown
	20 dinara	106 x 58	brown-red
	50 dinara	120 x 65	lilac
	100 dinara	130 x 70	dark gray-green
	500 dinara	133 x 74	brown
	1,000 dinara	140 x 75	dark green
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

1946 dinar

These were followed in 1946 by notes of the National Bank of Yugoslavia for 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 dinara. New 100 banknote was issued in 1953. The new banknotes were issued in 1955 for 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 dinara.

1946 Series
Image		Value	Image size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		50 dinara	112 x 53	Yellow	a miner	a lumberjack
		100 dinara	121 x 56	Brown	a blacksmith and a harvester	a fisherman
		500 dinara	132 x 63	Brown	a partisan	farmer ploughing
		1,000 dinara	145 x 67	Brown	working woman	Jajce waterfall and a figure of a woman with a sword
1953 Issue
		100 dinara	140 x 68	Brown	a locomotive in production	harvest
1955 Series
		100 dinara	127 x 60	Red	a woman	Dubrovnik
		500 dinara	135 x 64	Green	woman with sickle	harvest
		1,000 dinara	143 x 68	Brown	Arif Heralić	Zenica Steel Mill
		5,000 dinara	151 x 72	Dark blue	Relief by Ivan Meštrović at the Federal Parliament building	Federal Parliament building
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

Two series of 1946 dinar banknotes were printed, but never issued. One was the "reserve" series with the printing date of 1950 that was made up of 10 banknotes: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 dinara. It was kept for emergency purposes, but was never issued to circulation. All banknotes were eventually destroyed in the middle 1970s. Another is a series of six banknotes (10, 20, 50, 100, 1000 and 5000 dinara) with the printing dates of 1949, 1950 and 1951. It was probably intended as a replacement for the 1946 series (and 10-20 dinara banknotes from the 1944 series that were still in circulation), but was never issued to circulation. The 100 dinara banknote from this series was slightly altered and issued in 1954 with the printed date of 1 May 1953 (see above).^[6]

1949-1951 Unisued series
Image		Value	Image size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		10 dinara	105 × 45	Brown	Indication of value		1951	never issued
		20 dinara	108 × 47	Dark blue
		50 dinara	165 × 80	Dark green	Partisans in fight	harvest
		100 dinara	140 × 68	Blue and black	a locomotive in production
		1,000 dinara	165 × 80	Green	tractor drivers and harvesters	bricklayers and miners
		5,000 dinara	166 × 80	Gray-blue	a ship in the harbour	steel mill workers
1950 "Reserve" series
		1 dinar	80 x 34	Blue	Indication of value	Emblem of Yugoslavia	1950	never issued
		2 dinara	88 x 37	Red
		5 dinara	93 x 40	Light violet
		10 dinara	100 x 43	Green	Female partisan
		20 dinara	105 x 45	Brown
		50 dinara	113 x 48	Green	woman with a sickle
		100 dinara	122 x 53	Violet and blue
		500 dinara	135 x 58	Violet and blue	Relief of a partisan
		1000 dinara	148 x 64	Brown
		5000 dinara	148 x 64	Gray-green
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes.

1965 dinar

1965 saw the first revaluation of the dinar since the World War II.

In 1965, banknotes were introduced in denominations of 5, 10, 50 and 100 dinara. They used the same obverse design as the 1955 notes. 500 dinara notes were added in 1970, followed by 20 and 1,000 dinara in 1974. 5,000 dinara notes featuring a portrait of the late President Josip Broz Tito were added in 1985. As inflation worsened into hyperinflation, banknotes for 20,000 dinara were introduced in 1987, followed by 50,000 dinara in 1988 and 100,000, 500,000, 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 dinara in 1989. The 500,000 and 2,000,000 dinara notes were unusual in that they did not feature a portrait but an image of the monument on Kozara.

1965 Series
Image		Value	Size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		5 dinara	135 x 64	Green	Woman with sickle	tractors
		10 dinara	143 x 68	Brown	Arif Heralić	Zenica Steel Mill
		50 dinara	151 x 72	Blue	Relief by Ivan Meštrović at the Parliament building in Belgrade	Federal Parliament Building
		100 dinara	147 x 70	Red	The Monument of Peace by Antun Augustinčić in New York in front of the main UN building.	Indication of value
1968 - 1989 Series
		5 dinara	123 x 58½	Green	Woman with sickle	Indication of value
		10 dinara	131 x 62¼	Brown	Arif Heralić
		20 dinara	139 x 66	Violet	Ship dockside
		50 dinara		Blue	Relief by Ivan Meštrović at the Parliament building in Belgrade
		500 dinara	155 x 74	Dark green	Statue of Nikola Tesla by Frano Kršinić
		1,000 dinara	163 x 78	Grey	Woman with fruits
		5,000 dinara	164½ x 75	Blue	Josip Broz Tito	Jajce
		20,000 dinara	169½ x 77½	Brown	Alija Sirotanović	mining excavator
		50,000 dinara	174½ x 80	Green	a woman	Dubrovnik
		100,000 dinara	179½ x 82½	Red	a girl	digital art of a human eye
		500,000 dinara	145 × 75	Violet	Battle of Kozara Memorial	Battle of Sutjeska Memorial	August 1989
		1,000,000 dinara	151 x 72	Yellow	a young woman	a spike of wheat
		2,000,000 dinara	145 × 75	Dark Green and Brown	Battle of Kozara Memorial	Šumarice memorial	August 1989
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

1990 dinar

In 1990, notes were introduced for 10, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 dinara, some of which had designs very similar to those used for the corresponding notes of the previous currency. In 1991, 5,000 dinara notes were added. The 1991 emergency issue retains all previous characteristics save for the designation SFR, a detail representative of the changes within the country.

1990 Series
Obverse	Reverse	Value	Size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		10 dinara	139 × 66	red	a girl	digital art of a human eye
		50 dinara	145 × 75	violet	Battle of Kozara Memorial	Battle of the Sutjeska Memorial
			147 × 70	purple	a boy	rose flowers
		100 dinara	151 × 72	yellow	young woman	spike of wheat
		200 dinara	145 × 75	dark green and brown	Battle of Kozara Memorial	Šumarice memorial
		500 dinara	159 × 76	blue	young man	mountain
		1,000 dinara	163 × 78	brown	Nikola Tesla	Tesla coil
1991 Series (Emergency notes)
		10 dinara	139 x 66	purple	a girl	digital art of a human eye	1991	Never Issued
		50 dinara	147 x 70	red	a boy	rose flowers
		100 dinara	151 × 72	green	young woman	spike of wheat
		500 dinara	159 × 76	brown	young man	mountain
		1,000 dinara	163 × 78	blue	Nikola Tesla	Tesla coil
		5,000 dinara	167 × 80	dark blue	Ivo Andrić	Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

1992 dinar

In 1992, notes for 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 and 50,000 dinara were introduced in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Again, designs modified from the previous series of notes were used but this time not in order that notes of equal value had similar designs. In 1993, owing to hyperinflation, the higher value notes were introduced for 100,000, 500,000, 1,000,000, 5,000,000, 10,000,000, 50,000,000, 100,000,000, 500,000,000, 1,000,000,000 and 10,000,000,000 dinara.

Issues no longer bore the socialist (or any, for that matter) emblem of Yugoslavia, but rather the emblem of the National Bank of Yugoslavia. From the three languages previously displayed (Serbo-Croatian in Cyrillic and Latin, Slovene and Macedonian), only the dual display of Serbo-Croatian was retained, due to the independence of SR Slovenia and SR Macedonia.

1992 - 1993 Series
Obverse	Reverse	Value	Size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		100 dinara	151 × 72	Blue	a young woman	a spike of wheat	1992
		500 dinara	159 × 76	Violet	a young man	mountain
		1000 dinara	163 × 78	Red	Nikola Tesla	Tesla coil
		5,000 dinara	167 × 80	Dark green	Ivo Andrić	Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge
		10,000 dinara	139 × 66	Brown and dark red	a girl	digital art of a human eye
		50,000 dinara	147 × 70	Green and violet	a boy	rose flowers
		100,000 dinara	151 × 72	Yellow and green	a young woman	sunflowers	1993
		500,000 dinara	159 × 76	Blue and orange	a young man	mountain
		1,000,000 dinara	147 × 70	Blue, pink and yellow	a boy	Iris flowers
		5,000,000 dinara	163 × 78	Green and dark red	Nikola Tesla	Tesla coil and Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station
		10,000,000 dinara	167 × 80	Grey and light green	Ivo Andrić	National Library of Serbia
		50,000,000 dinara	139 × 66	Pink and grey	a girl	Captain Miša's Mansion
		100,000,000 dinara	159 × 76	Light blue and grey	a young man	Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
		500,000,000 dinara	151 × 72	Violet and grey	a young woman	Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Belgrade
	x58px	1,000,000,000 dinara	179½ × 82½	Pink and light blue	a girl	Federal Parliament
		10,000,000,000 dinara	163 × 78	Pink and dark grey	Nikola Tesla	Tesla coil
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

1993 dinar

In 1993, banknotes for this currency were issued in denominations of 5000, 10,000, 50,000, 500,000, 5,000,000, 50,000,000, 500,000,000, 5,000,000,000, 50,000,000,000 and 500,000,000,000 dinara. The unusual sequence of denominations is a result of the hyperinflation that Yugoslavia was suffering from.

1993 Series
Obverse	Reverse	Value	Size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		5,000 dinara	159 × 76	Brown and orange	Nikola Tesla	Nikola Tesla Museum	1993
		10,000 dinara	163 × 78	Brown and green	Vuk Karadžić	Tršić and Tronoša
		50,000 dinara	139 × 66	Violet and blue	Petar II Petrović Njegoš	Cetinje monastery
		500,000 dinara	143 × 68	Green and yellow	Dositej Obradović	Hopovo monastery
		5,000,000 dinara	147 × 70	Brown and green	Karađorđe	Church and mansion of Karađorđe
		50,000,000 dinara	151 × 72	Red and violet	Mihajlo Pupin	Old Telephone Exchange building
		500,000,000 dinara	139 × 66	Violet and blue	Jovan Cvijić	Captain Miša's Mansion
		5,000,000,000 dinara	143 × 68	Orange and yellow	Đura Jakšić	Vraćevšnica monastery
		50,000,000,000 dinara	147 × 70	Pink and light blue	Miloš Obrenović	Prince Miloš's Residence
		500,000,000,000 dinara	151 × 72	Dark red and blue	Jovan Jovanović Zmaj	National Library of Serbia
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:^[7]

1994 dinar

In January 1994, notes were issued for 10, 100, 1,000, 5,000, 50,000, 100,000, 500,000 and 10,000,000 dinara. Owing to hyperinflation, they circulated just for a couple of weeks before the currency was abandoned in favour of the novi dinar, pegged to the Deutsche Mark as it was used parallel with dinar. Novi dinar's peg to DM lasted until 1996 when the National Bank of Yugoslavia moved to floating exchange rate. 10 and 100 dinara notes were characteristic for lack of serial number on them.

1994 Series
Obverse	Reverse	Value	Size (mm)	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
		10 dinara	116 × 55	Green and brown	Josif Pančić	Kopaonik mountain	1994
		100 dinara	135 × 64	Blue and violet	Nikola Tesla	Nikola Tesla Museum
		1000 dinara	139 × 66	Violet and red	Petar II Petrović Njegoš	Cetinje monastery
		5,000 dinara	143 × 68	Blue and violet	Dositej Obradović	Hopovo monastery
		50,000 dinara	147 × 70	Red and violet	Karađorđe	Church and mension of Karađorđe
		500,000 dinara	139 × 66	Yellow and orange	Jovan Cvijić	Captain Miša's Mansion
		10,000,000 dinara (1993 banknote overprinted with "1994")	167 × 80	Grey and light green	Ivo Andrić	National Library of Serbia
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

Novi dinar

1994 series

On 24 January 1994, notes were introduced for 1, 5 and 10 novih (new) dinara. A second series of notes was introduced later in the year for 5, 10 and 20 novih dinara, with 50 novih dinara note added in 1996 and 100 novih dinara in 1997.

The second novi dinar series replaces the emblem of the National Bank of Yugoslavia with that of the Federal Republic, while the 5, 10 and 20 dinar banknotes feature inscriptions only in Cyrillic on the obverse.

1994 "Novi dinar" Series
Image	Value	Size (mm)	Predominant colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
	1 novi dinar	126 × 60	Brown and green	Josif Pančić	Kopaonik mountain
	5 novih dinara	131 × 62	Pink	Nikola Tesla	Nikola Tesla Museum
	10 novih dinara	135 × 64	Violet and blue	Petar II Petrović Njegoš	Cetinje monastery
1994–1996 Second "Novi dinar" Series
	5 novih dinara	131 × 62	Purple	Nikola Tesla	Nikola Tesla Museum
	10 novih dinara	135 × 64	Red and brown	Petar II Petrović Njegoš	Cetinje monastery
	20 novih dinara	139 × 66	Orange and green	Đura Jakšić	Vraćevšnica monastery
	50 novih dinara	143 × 68	Blue	Miloš Obrenović	Prince Miloš's Residence	June 1996
	100 novih dinara	147 × 70	Yellow	Dositej Obradović	Hopovo monastery	October 1996
Planned "Novi dinar" banknote
	200 novih dinara		Green	Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac	A grand piano	April 1999	Never issued
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. Source:

2000 series

In 2000, new notes without the word "novih" were issued in denominations of 20, 50 and 100 dinara. 10, 200 and 1,000 dinara notes were introduced in 2001, followed by 5,000 dinara in 2002.

Beginning in 2003, banknotes of the (re-established) National Bank of Serbia were introduced. These banknotes use almost the same design as the 2000–2002 Yugoslav notes. The main difference is that the words Narodna Banka Jugoslavije (National Bank of Yugoslavia) are changed to Narodna Banka Srbije (National Bank of Serbia) and the coat of arms of Serbia and Montenegro is changed to the Serbian coat of arms.Banknotes released by the national bank of Yugoslavia between 2000 and 2002 were withdrawn from circulation on 1 January 2007.^[8]

2000–2002 Series
Image	Value	Dimensions	Colour	Obverse	Reverse	First printed date	Issued	Withdrawn
	10 dinara	131 x 62	Ochre-yellow	Vuk Karadžić Filip Višnjić in the background	Figure of Vuk Karadžić Members of the First Slavic Congress held in Prague in 1848 Vignette of the letters Vuk introduced	2000
	20 dinara	135 x 64	Green	Petar II Petrović Njegoš	Statue of Njegoš from the Njegoš's mausoleum Mount Lovćen
	50 dinara	139 x 66	Purple	Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac A piano	Figure of Mokranjac A motif of Miroslav Gospels illumination scores Notes
	100 dinara	143 x 68	Blue	Nikola Tesla Definition of tesla, a unit of magnetic flux density	Portrait of Nikola Tesla A detail from the Tesla's AC motor
	200 dinara	147 x 70	Brown	Nadežda Petrović Statue of Nadežda Petrović Silhouette of the Gračanica Monastery	Figure of Nadežda Petrović Gračanica Monastery	2001
	1,000 dinara	151 x 72	Red	Đorđe Vajfert An outline of Vajfert's brewery	Portrait of Vajfert Hologram image of St. George and the Dragon Details from the interior of the old building of the National Bank of the Kingdom of Serbia
	5,000 dinara	159 x 76	Purple and green	Slobodan Jovanović Ornamental detail from the building of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts	Portrait of Slobodan Jovanović Silhouette of the National Parliament	2002
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes.

References

• • • Yugoslavia n banknotes at Infotech 2003
• Ron Wise's Banknoteworld: Yugoslavia

External links

• Historical banknotes from Yugoslavia (1968-1991)
• Historical banknotes from Yugoslavia (1992-1993)
• Historical banknotes from Yugoslavia (1994-1999)

Notes and References

1. Book: Stojanović, Željko. Papirni novac Srbije i Jugoslavije = Das Papiergeld Serbiens und Jugoslawiens = Paper money of Serbia and Yugoslavia. 1996. Ž. Stojanović. 86-901793-1-3. Beograd. 38201359.
2. Jelinčič. Zmago. June 1998. Dinarsko-krunska serija. Dinar. 9. 37.
3. Cuhaj, 2010, p. 1254.
4. Cuhaj, 2010, p. 1255.
5. Papirni novac Jugoslavije 1944. . Đurišić, Milorad . Dinar . June 1996 . 1 . 17–19.
6. Škrabo. Ivan. 2005. NOVČANICE FNRJ 1949/51. - PROBE ILI NEŠTO DRUGO?. Dinar. 24. 25–27.
7. Book: Tomić, Vojislav. Новчанице Југославије : 1918-1997. Cvijan. Stanko. Народна банка Југославије, Дирекција за послове трезора. 1997. Belgrade. Serbian.
8. Web site: Banknotes withdrawn from circulation, National Bank of Serbia . nbs.rs . 14 January 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121103052402/http://www.nbs.rs/internet/latinica/75/75_4/index.html . 3 November 2012 .