Medieval Serbian dinar , 13th century The first mention of a "Serbian dinar" dates back to the reign of
Stefan the First-Crowned in 1214. Until the fall of
Despot Stjepan Tomašević in 1459, most of the Serbian rulers minted silver dinar coins. The first Serbian dinars, like many other south-European coins, replicated
Venetian grosso, including characters in Latin (the word 'Dux' replaced with the word 'Rex'). It was one of the main export articles of medieval Serbia for many years, considering the relative abundance of silver coming from Serbian mines. Venetians were wary of this, and
Dante Alighieri went so far as to put the Serbian king of his time,
Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia, in Hell as a forger (along with his Portuguese and Norwegian counterparts): After the last Ottoman garrisons were withdrawn in 1867, Serbia was faced with multiple currencies in circulation. Thus, the prince
Mihailo Obrenović ordered a national currency be minted. The first bronze coins were introduced in 1868, followed by silver in 1875 and gold in 1879. The first banknotes were issued in 1876. Between 1873 and 1894, the dinar was pegged at par to the
French franc. The
Kingdom of Serbia also joined the
Latin Monetary Union and adhered to a
bimetallic standard up until 1914. Attempts to put the Serbian dinar solely onto the
gold standard were hampered by widening budget deficits, significant government foreign debt and poor gold reserves. In 1920, the Serbian dinar was replaced at par by the
Yugoslav dinar, with the
Yugoslav krone also circulating together.
Coins In 1868, bronze coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, and 10 paras. The obverses featured the portrait of Prince
Mihailo Obrenović III. Silver coins were introduced in 1875, in denominations of 50 paras, 1 and 2 dinars, followed by 5 dinars in 1879. The first gold coins were also issued in 1879, for 20 dinars, with 10 dinars introduced in 1882. The gold coins issued for the coronation of
Milan I coronation in 1882 were popularly called (). In 1883, cupro-nickel 5, 10, and 20 para coins were introduced, followed by bronze 2 para coins in 1904.
Banknotes In 1876, state notes were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 dinars. The Chartered National Bank followed these notes from 1884, with notes for 10 dinars backed by silver and gold notes for 50 and 100 dinars. Gold notes for 20 dinars and silver notes for 100 dinars were introduced in 1905. However, gold-backed notes were not received well by the public. Lack of public faith in the Serbian dinar,
bartering and immediate exchange for gold coins meant that the notes fell out of circulation. Silver-backed notes were however well received and made up 95% of total note circulation. During the
Balkan Wars and on the eve of
World War I, bank note conversions to gold and silver were temporarily suspended. During
World War I, silver notes for 50 and 5 dinars were introduced in 1914 and 1916, respectively. In 1915, stamps were authorized for circulation as currency in denominations of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 50 paras.
Second modern Serbian dinar (1941–1944) In 1941, the Yugoslav dinar was replaced, at par, by a second Serbian dinar for use in the
German occupied Serbia. The dinar was pegged to the German
reichsmark at a rate of 250 dinars = 1 reichsmark. This dinar circulated until 1944, when the Yugoslav dinar was reintroduced by the
Yugoslav Partisans, replacing the Serbian dinar rate of 1 Yugoslav dinar = 20 Serbian dinars.
Coins In 1942,
zinc coins were introduced in denominations of 50 paras, 1 and 2 dinars, with 10 dinar coins following in 1943.
Banknotes In May 1941, the Serbian National Bank introduced notes for 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 dinars. The 100 and 1,000 dinar notes were overprints, whilst the 10 dinar design was taken from an earlier Yugoslav note. Other notes were introduced in 1942 and 1943 without any new denominations being introduced.
Third modern Serbian dinar (2003–present) The Serbian dinar replaced the
Yugoslav dinar in 2003 when the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was transformed into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Both
Montenegro and the disputed territory of
Kosovo had already adopted the
Deutsche Mark and later the
euro when the mark was replaced by it in 2002. The
Serbs in
North Kosovo and the enclaves within it continued to use the dinar until 2024 when the
Kosovan government banned the use of the dinar for payment, making the euro the sole legal tender nationwide. Between 2003 and 2006, the Serbian dinar used the ISO 4217 code
CSD, with
CS being the ISO 3166-1 country code for Serbia and Montenegro. When the State Union was dissolved in 2006, the dinar's ISO 4217 code was changed to the current
RSD. ==Coins==