BANKNOTES OF FNRY 1949/51 - TRIAL ISSUES OR SOMETHING ELSE?

Unissued banknotes of the FNRY - Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia - belong to the category of Yugo slav notes for which we do not have any official data. They should not be seen as one, but as two different series. The first one has 10 denominations, all dated 1950, while the second one consists of 6 banknotes, dated May 1, 1945, May 1, 1950, November 1, 1950 and 1951. The first series (consisting of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 Dinara) is undoubtedly the so-called reserve series, planned to be put into circulation in case of war. It had been issued at the time of difficult political situation, after Tito’s break up with Stalin and the formation of Informbiro, pact of communist countries; at the same time the Trieste crisis at western boarders of the New Yugoslavia also provided very tense moments. Specimens that we find on the numismatic market today mostly do not have serial numbers, so it is difficult to calculate the exact quantity issued. After being officially destroyed in the Banknote Printing Establishment in Belgrade (ZIN), it is believed that only some uncut sheets had been retained and later smuggled to the numismatic market, for the banknotes we observe on the market are improperly cut in most cases. The second series, which includes various dates of issue, we could not treat as the “reserve notes”, nor should they be connected with the “Informbiro” issues. It seems that the first note issued in this series was the highest denomination: 5000 Dinara dated November 1, 1950. It had been produced by the same technology as the “reserve notes” from the previous se ries. The 100 Dinara note dated May 1, 1949 and 50 Dina ra dated May 1, 1950 followed, and after them the banknotes dated 1951 and 1952, for they had been produced on paper of higher quality. There also exist two different types of numerations. Finally, the most illogical “case” is the banknote of 1000 Dinara dated May 1, 1949. It had been produced in the most advanced “intaglio” printing system on machines that Yugoslavia did not have at that time. The only possible conclusion is the hypothesis that it was printed in the Bundesdruckerei Munich, for the quality of paper, security devices and general appearance is similar to the German 5 DM notes dated 1948. This is quite logical having in mind that at the same period of time negotiations with Germany had been carried out for the war reparations, including the question of returning the eq uipment taken from the Belgrade Mint by Wehrmacht in 19- 44. It is therefore likely that a kind of compensation was printing of this note in the well-equipped Banknote printing esta blishment in Munich.