As I have begun to advance my collection of Bosnian banknotes, I am also learning a great deal about these notes, some of which doesn't show up in the 8th edition (2002) SCWPM, aka PICK. So, I thought I would go through a few of my notes, and share with you what I have learned, so far, and also what information I don't know that perhaps someone could help with.
First notes of discussion are listed as P#1 and P#2.
These were issued in April of 1992, when Independence was declared from Yugoslavia.
The first note (P#1, 500 dinara) is catalogued as having 2 sizes of handstamp: 27mm and 31mm. There are also 3 variations of the handstamp: no numeral, the numeral "1", and the numeral "2". As can be seen in the above image, my note has the numeral "1" (P#1b). I have measured the handstamp, and I believe it to be the 27mm version. I do not know if all 3 numeral varieties come in both sizes (making a total of 6 distinct varieties), or if certain numerals only come in certain sizes. I will probably try to pick a few more of these for comparisons.
The second note (P#2, 1000 dinara) is also found with the 3 variations of the handstamp numerals, as above. Again, my note has the numeral "1" (P#2b).
Although the catalog gives the same values for all 3 variations of the handstamp numerals for both notes, I am curious if one might be rarer than the other. I have only recently begun to look at these, but so far it seems that the majority of them available on
ebay are the numeral "1" issues.
I have also noticed that there is no rhyme or reason regarding the serial numbers. There are series "AA" notes with the handstamp for use on Bosnia, as well as normal notes used throughout the rest of Yugoslavia. I would guess that in the haste to get some distinguished currency into the open market, the newly formed government just used whatever currency it could get it's hands on. By the time these notes were issued in Bosnia in 1992, they had ceased to be used in Yugoslavia due to demonitization, so I would think these were probably returned notes that were sitting in bank vaults. Further support of this idea is that they do not catalog above VF condition.
So far, I have not run across any replacement notes ("ZA" series) with the handstamp.
Posted 07/27/2006 07:24 am
