Yugoslavian Paper Money

Travel Back in Time With Old Yugoslavian Money

From 1918 until 2003, the dinar was the national currency of Yugoslavia, though it persisted a bit longer until 2006 as the currency of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Now that Yugoslavia no longer exists and that its former consistent states have become their own independent countries, dinar banknotes, in all of their various issuances, have become collector's items. eBay has many different denominations of the Yugoslav dinar for sale to satisfy the desires of avid collectors.

Pre-hyperinflation Yugoslav banknotes

Reasonably priced Yugoslavian banknotes were first issued in 1920 and appeared in a large variety of different denominations since then. In 1993, hyperinflation erupted in Yugoslavia, causing the government to issue banknotes in much higher denominations than before. Here are some of the different pre-hyperinflation Yugoslav banknote issues and the years during which they were issued:

• 1920 Issue: In 1920, the bank of the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia issued banknotes for 10, 100 and 1,000 dinara. In 1926, a new 10 dinar banknote was issued. There are the oldest and rarest kinds of Yugoslav banknotes.
• 1929-1939 Issue: In celebration of formally changing the country's name to Yugoslavia, the government issued new 10 and 100 dinara banknotes, as well as introducing 20, 50, 500 and 10,000 dinara banknotes.
• 1944 and 1946 Issues: In 1944, the government issued new 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 dinara notes, and in 1946, it issued new 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 dinara notes. A 5,000 dinara note was also introduced in 1950.
• 1966 Issue: In 1966, the government issued new 5, 10, 50 and 100 dinara banknotes. In 1970, 500 dinara were added, followed by 20 and 1,000 dinara notes in 1974.
• 1985 Issue: In 1985, there was a new issuance of banknotes beginning with a 5,000 dinara note which depicted the former Yugoslave president Josip Broz Tito, then dead for about five years. From 1987 to 1989, as inflation grew worse, the government would also introduce 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, 500,000, 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 dinara banknotes.
• 1990 Issue: This issue had new 10, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 5,000 dinara banknotes.

Post-hyperinflation Yugoslav banknotes

Here are the post-hyperinflation higher-denomination issuances of used Yugoslav currency:

• 1992 Issue: At first, this issue contained only 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 and 50,000 dinara banknotes, but as hyperinflation worsened, these grew into 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 notes.
• 1993 Issue: This issue had notes of all of the same denominations as the previous issue, but also introduced 50,000,000,000 and 500,000,000,000 dinara notes.
• 1994 and 2000 Issues: After hyperinflation, Yugoslav currency had to be revalued. The new money was named the novi dinar and was pegged to the German Deutsche Mark to safeguard against hyperinflation. 10, 100, 1,000, 5,000, 50,000, 100,000, 500,000 and 10,000,000 novi dinara notes were printed in 1994, followed by another issuance of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 notes in 2000.

Who are some of the people pictured on Yugoslavian banknotes?

Here a just some of the famous Serbian and Croatian personalities whose portraits appear on Yugoslav currency:

• Arif Heralić, a Bosnian metalworker who was on the 1,000 dinara banknote from 1955 to 1981
• Nikola Tesla
• Josip Broz Tito
• Ivo Andrić
• Dositej Obradović
• Jovan Jovanović Zmaj

Content provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.