Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosna i Hercegovina (Bosnia)
Bosna i Hercegovina (Croatian)
Босна и Херцеговина (Serbian)
Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Est.1997)
Currency - Convertible Mark (BAM)
Below are two sets of Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible marks all printed with the year date of 2024. These are reprints from the initial series, first introduced in 2012. Since the introduction of this series, this is the second time that the bank has issued this series in full sets. The last time when a full set was issued was the 2019 series.
The series is dedicated to famous poets/writers who were all born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is called convertible mark (maraka) and is divided into Pfenig (1 mark = 100 pfenig). The convertible mark was first introduced in 1998 after the Dayton Agreement was signed in 1995. The peace agreement ended the Bosnian War, which was fought from 1992 to 1995. Following the end of the conflict, the convertible mark currency replaced the Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar, Croatian kuna and Yugoslav novi dinar. As per the currency's name, it was adopted from the German's currency - Mark and Pfenning and at the time of its introduction, the convertible mark was then pegged at par with the German's mark.
In terms of population, Bosnia and Herzegovina is considered as a rather small country. The main population in the country comprises mainly the Bosniaks (predominantly Muslim 50%+), Croats (predominantly Catholic 15%+), and Serbs (predominantly Orthodox 30%+). These three main groups of people represent about 96% of the population of 3.2M+ of people. The country is ranked 133th largest country in the world and ranked 125th in terms of population size.
As I can't be 100% sure about this, the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina is required to issue two different sets of banknotes according to the Dayton Agreement (please correct me if I am wrong here, as I may be talking rubbish). On one set, the name of the central bank's name is printed on top with Latin letters for the Croatians, and the other denomination is printed with Cyrillic letters for the Serbian language. The design for the notes with the same denominations are not the same either on both the front and the back. However, all notes issued are legal tender throughout the country. This makes Bosnia and Herzegovina a bit unique as each denomination issued has to be in two versions with the languages of the Croatian and Serbian printed separately, apart from Bosnia's language. Needless to say, each set comprises four notes of 10, 20, 50 and 100 marks. The 100 marks is the largest denomination currently as the 200 mark is not included in this series.
These notes were reportedly printed by Oberthur Fiduciaire in France.
Set printed with Croatian's bank name
Front - Portrait of the writer Mehmedalija 'Mak' Dizdar (b.1917-1971). A well known Bosnian Muslim poet. He was born in a town called Stolac, south of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 10
Dimensions - 131mm x 65mm
Back - Stecak Radimlja tombstone fragment.
Front - Portrait of Antun Branko Simic (b.1898-1925). Antun Branko Simic, a Croat was born in a village south of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was one of the most important poets of Croatian literature of the 20th century. He died very young at the age of 26.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 20
Dimensions - 139mm x 69mm
Back - Fragment of Stecak Radimlja
Front - A portrait of Musa Cazim Catic (1878-1915). He was a Bosnia poet. He studied Sharia Law in Zagreb and worked as the editor of Behar and Biser magazines and in the Muslim Library of Mostar in Bosnia.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 50
Dimensions - 147mm x 71mm
Back - Image of a stone relief.
Front - Portrait of Nikola Sop (b.1904-1982). Nikola Sop was a Yugoslav poet, story-teller, playwright and also a translator. He was born in Jajce to a family of Bosnian Croats.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 100
Dimensions - 155mm x 74mm
Back - Fragment of Stecak Zgosca
Set printed with Serbian's bank name
Front - Portrait of poet Aleksa Santic (b.1868-1924). He was a Herzegovinian Serb born in the town of Mostar. He was the editor-in-chief of the Zora magazine (1896-1901) and was considered as one of the leading persons of Serbian literary and national movement in Mostar.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 10
Dimensions -131mm x 65.5mm
Back - Image of a loaf of bread. I am not sure why they have this loaf of bread printed on the back. Perhaps this may be related to one of many poems (title) that he had written.
Front - A side portrait of Filip Visnjic (b.1767-1834). He was a Serbian epic poet and gustar and was born in a village near Ugljevik, northeast of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He went blind at the age of 8 due to smallpox.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 20
Dimensions - 139mm x 69mm
Back - A musical instrument called Gusle which Filip Visnjic once performed with.
Front - A portrait of Jovan Ducic (b.1872-1943). He was born in the town of Trebinje in the southernmost part of Republic Srpska. During his lifetime, he was an influential Serbian lyricist and modernist poet.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 50
Front - A portrait of Petar Kocic (b.1877-1916). Peter Kocic was a Bosnian Serb writer, activist and politician. He was born in the northern region of Bosnia near the town Banja Luka. This is not the first time that his portrait appeared on a banknote. During the Yugoslav War that took place from 1991 to 2001, Balkan War, the Bosnia & Herzegovina - Serbian Republic issued a series of 9 notes all printed with his portrait on the front of the note. Petar Kocic died relatively young at the age of 39 due to poor health.
Governor - Senad Softic (tenure 11.08.2015-03.01.2024)
Date - 2024
Watermarks - Images of two persons holding up round objects and electrotype 100
Dimensions -155mm x 75mm
Back - Images of a pen, eyeglasses and opened books.
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