One of the most famous banknotes of the former joint state is the 20,000 dinar banknote from 1987, which features the image of a miner. Practically everyone whose memory reaches back to the final years of the SFR Yugoslavia remembers that miner. Most people will say that this banknote depicts the most famous Yugoslav miner, shock worker, and hero of socialist labor – Alija Sirotanović. However, this raises the question: Is it really him?
The 20,000 dinar banknote featuring the image of a miner was issued three years before the breakup of Yugoslavia and bears the date 05/01/1987. It was put into circulation on 09/01/1987, and was only withdrawn on 12/31/1991. It is the only banknote of socialist Yugoslavia with a nominal value of 20,000 dinars.
The authors of this banknote are Dragiša Andrić, Nusret Hrvanović, and Dušan Matić, and it was printed at the Institute for Manufacturing Banknotes in Belgrade. The dimensions of the banknote are 169 by 77 mm, and its security features included special paper, a security thread, and a watermark. The dominant color on the banknote is brown.
In professional literature, this banknote is registered under the catalog number P#95 in the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, and under number 111 in Viščević catalogue for paper money in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia, 20,000 Dinars 1987, obverse. Image: Coins, Banknotes & Militaria Store [www.cbm-store.com].
On the obverse of the banknote is the portrait of a middle-aged miner, the work of artist Nusret Hrvanović, while the central part features the coat of arms of the SFRY, the denomination, and inscriptions, set against decorative guilloche patterns. On the right side of the obverse is the watermark area. The watermark features a mirrored portrait of the miner. The serial number is located on the lower part of the banknote in two places. The lower part of the banknote also contains the signatures of the author of the artistic design.
Yugoslavia, 20,000 dinars 1987, reverse. Image: Coins, Banknotes & Militaria Store [www.cbm-store.com].
In the central part of the reverse side of the banknote is a bucket wheel, which is part of a bucket wheel excavator used in surface mining pits. Also, on the reverse side is the inscription SFR JUGOSLAVIJA and a large denomination mark. The names of the Yugoslav republics are positioned vertically and written in Latin and Cyrillic scripts. In the left part of the reverse side of the banknote is the watermark area. The watermark depicts the figure of the miner from the obverse of the banknote.
An urban legend says that the figure on the banknote actually depicts Alija Sirotanović, the most famous Yugoslav miner, shock worker, and recipient of the Order of the Hero of Socialist Labor. Sirotanović was a sort of national hero in the former Yugoslavia, having broken the world coal mining record in 1947, thereby surpassing the Soviet miner Stakhanov. When Josip Broz Tito, the then-president of Yugoslavia, allegedly asked him if he had any wishes, Sirotanović replied that he only wanted—a bigger shovel. Regardless of the urban legend, it is very questionable whether the banknote actually depicts Alija Sirotanović.
If we compare the image of Alija Sirotanović from his younger days, when he was approximately the same age as the miner on the banknote, we quickly come to the conclusion that they are two different people.
Sirotanović had specific, sharper facial features, while those of the figure on the banknote are more rounded. Likewise, Sirotanović had specific „Charlie Chaplin-esque“ mustache, whereas the miner on the banknote does not. A similarity only exists if you compare the bust of Alija Sirotanović and the miner on the banknote—they share a miner's helmet with a built-in lamp. Perhaps precisely because of this, people think this is Sirotanović, even though the vast majority of them do not even know what he actually looked like.
In any case, this guy on the banknote might be some other Alija, but Sirotanović he definitely is not.
There is often public confusion with another character from the banknote; with Arif Heralić, who was featured on the older 1000 (later 10) dinar banknotes. Arif Heralić was a worker at the Zenica ironworks. Sometimes he is perceived in public as a „miner“ and some consider him to be Alija Sirotanović, although this is incorrect.
Author: Zlatko Viščević
Photos: Coins, Banknotes & Militaria Store [www.cbm-store.com]; Wikipedia [www.wikipedia.org]
