Question about obsolete Yugoslavian Dinara notes

DBSTrader2

I've slowly been going through my late father's memorabilia, collected from all my parents' trips around the globe from the 1970's thru the late '90's, and came across some Yugoslavian Dinara notes they saved for me.

All told, they came to 9000 Dinara dated between 1979 & 1985.

According to info I found on-line, these "old" bills (along with all their "newer" inflationary notes) were to remain as legal tender alongside each other and valid for use/exchange until the year 2025. At the listed exchange rate of 1 "old" = 1 "Novi" Dinar = $0.0183 USD, they were worth around $165.

Of course, Yugoslavia broke apart, and, from what I am also reading, those notes are now worthless.

Is that the case, or is there still any recourse? Otherwise, they are just nice souvenirs from my Dad.

But it also got me to wondering....... what happened to the holdings of all the citizens of the former Yugoslavia when the break-up occurred? Did each resulting country offer exchanges from those old Dinara to their new currencies, or were people S.O.L.?

If anyone can offer info on both questions above, or point me to where I can learn more about them, I'd appreciate it. I'd like to know more on the subject.

Thanks in advance!

- - Dave


(P.S. Next, I'll be looking through the Philippine coins and currency he saved from WW2, and the remaining coins from the teens thru '90's from their trips to England/Western Europe and to the Eastern European Bloc countries).

SaorAlba

Jugoslavija went through several currency redenominations during the 1980s and 1990s - the ones from the time your dad's visit there are long since obsolete and aren't worth the paper they are printed on - essentially they are probably 10c notes now.

Tookybandit

Unfortunately, they are only worth what someone is willing to pay on eBay.

DBSTrader2

Thanks for the above comments re: any value! Pretty much what I expected, unfortunately.

Anyone know how the transition was handled for their citizens?

Thanks!

SaorAlba

Originally posted by: DBSTrader2

Thanks for the above comments re: any value! Pretty much what I expected, unfortunately.



Anyone know how the transition was handled for their citizens?



Thanks!

The notes didn't really hold enough value at the time of redenomination so it was pretty pointless. I wonder how in the world anyone in the former Jugoslavija can even trust paper money, they went through several wipeouts with their paper money - even the Serbijan dinar is becoming quickly worthless.

DBSTrader2

Did the people at least see it coming in time to pull their money out of the banks and hoard consumables, silver, gold or SOMETHING, or were they literally bankrupted as a result?

This gets me to wondering......... I know I and others had compiled "one-per-country" lists when collecting coins. Has anyone on the Currency Forum ever compiled a list of nations & currencies that have gone the way of the dinosaur over the last few centuries, and tried to collect 1 note of each? I'd be curious to see how many cases there have been.

Fascinating stuff.....

SaorAlba

Originally posted by: DBSTrader2

Did the people at least see it coming in time to pull their money out of the banks and hoard consumables, silver, gold or SOMETHING, or were they literally bankrupted as a result?



This gets me to wondering......... I know I and others had compiled "one-per-country" lists when collecting coins. Has anyone on the Currency Forum ever compiled a list of nations & currencies that have gone the way of the dinosaur over the last few centuries, and tried to collect 1 note of each? I'd be curious to see how many cases there have been.



Fascinating stuff.....

During that time the country was communist, ie Tito ruled until 1980 so consumables were not that readily available. In fact many people there worked in W. Germany and sent home money.



In the western sense it is hard to understand starting over again, but my having lived in the ex-USSR for awhile I know many many people that did it - more than a few times. If anything it shows that people, especially in that part of the world, are pretty resilient. Of course now anyone there with their good sense doesn't ever keep too much cash, and if they do it is in dollars or Euros. Otherwise it is in gold or foreign bank accounts ie Swiss.

DanCong

Lots of countries have gone through changes where they have devalued and changed currency, post WWI Germany is a classic example of hyperinflation and then introduce a new currency. There are other places, like the Republic of Texas, which no longer exists, but issued currency. Depending on how you define country existing, most world powers have changed hands in the era of banknotes, like all the US colonies. An interesting read if you want to see a concise history of one country's path through changes is Romania Romanian leu History
And here is a picture of 5 kilos of Yugoslavian banknotes I got on eBay. You can see just one note is 500,000,000.

Tookybandit

Dang that's a bunch of notes!!!

DBSTrader2

Dancong:

If you don't mind my asking, how much (or little) did 5 kilos of obsolete banknotes cost? I've seen banknotes sold out of 5/$1-type boxes at local coin shows before, and it might be an interesting side-hobby to start putting some notes alongside my coins for each country I collect................ There's some beautiful artwork out there!

SaorAlba

Belarus situation in grocery store, paying for kvas with worthless rubles.

DanCong

they cost $285, which is about 6 cents apiece. They range from 1968 to mid 90s so there is a fair variety. I bought them from a dealer in Serbia. I figure eventually I'll put together lots of 100 notes for $20 or so. When you look at some of the American banknote notes from the 1890's for the world market, which sell for a few dollars and compare to US notes from the same period, you get a heck of a bang for a buck with world notes.

DBSTrader2

I remember getting some inflationary stamps from Germany before WW2 with over-stamps changing the value to in the BILLIONS and hearing the stories of people bringing money in wheelbarrows to the store just to buy a loaf of bread......................

Very attractive notes pictured above!!

OK, I'm hooked! I'm going to add notes to my "1-per-country" coin collection!

oklahomadanny

Zimbabwe, up to 100 trillion dollar notes.