„He who works, makes mistakes.“ is a common saying in our region. But when it comes to money, efforts are made to reduce such a „rule“ to a minimum, whether it is a matter of transactions or security elements on the money and its appearance. Money is the „mirror“ of the state and the institution that issues it and, as such, must represent that country and institution as well as possible. Mistakes on money often face criticism among citizens and damage the reputation of both the state and the money issuer. If we judge by the money, we can say that the newly created Kingdom (initially „Kingdom“) of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes did not enjoy the brightest reputation among its citizens.
Shortly after the unification of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the issuance of banknotes for the joint state began. In November 1919, 1/2 and 1 dinar banknotes (without overprint) were put into circulation. In February 1920, banknotes with a krone overprint were put into circulation: 1/2, 1, 5, 10, 20, 100, and 1000 dinars.
Unfortunately, these banknotes are full of spelling errors when it comes to the inscriptions in Croatian and Slovenian. Whether those accidental (or intentional) errors were meant to send a specific message to the new subjects of King Peter I Karađorđević, we leave it to the readers to decide for themselves.
1/2 dinar 02/01/1919.
The banknote has an error on the obverse. The Croatian inscription contains the Serbian term „FINANSIJA“ instead of the word „FINANCIJA“.
Part of the banknotes with the crown overprint contain an error in the watermark reading „KURNE“ (in Cyrillic) instead of „KRUNE“.
1 dinar (1919)
The banknote has errors on the front. The Slovenian inscription contains the name „MINISTERSTVO“ instead of the word „MINISTRSTVO“, and „KRALJEVSTVA“ instead of „KRALJESTVA“.
All banknotes with the crown overprint contain an error in the watermark reading „KURNE“ (in Cyrillic) instead of „KRUNE“.
5 dinars (1919)
The banknote has errors on the front. The Slovenian inscription contains the name „MINISTERSTVO“ instead of the word „MINISTRSTVO“, and „KRALJEVSTVA“ instead of „KRALJESTVA“.
Some banknotes with the crown overprint contain an error in the watermark reading „KURNA“ (in Cyrillic) instead of „KRUNA“.
10 dinars 02.01.1919.
The banknote has errors on the obverse. In the inscriptions in all languages, there is no comma after the word „SRBA“. Instead of the word „FINANCIJA“, the Croatian inscription contains the Serbian term „FINANSIJA“. The Slovenian inscription is correct, but the name of the ministry is written in a different form (compared to the other banknotes).
20 dinars February 1, 1919.
The banknote has errors on the front. In the inscriptions in all languages, there is no comma after the word „SRBA“. Instead of the word „FINANCIJA“, the Croatian inscription contains the Serbian name „FINANSIJA“.
100 Dinars (1919)
The banknote has errors on the front. The Slovenian inscription contains the name „MINISTERSTVO“ instead of the word „MINISTRSTVO“, and „KRALJEVSTVA“ instead of „KRALJESTVA“.
1000 dinars (1919)
The banknote has errors on the front. The Slovenian inscription contains the name „MINISTERSTVO“ instead of the word „MINISTRSTVO“, and „KRALJEVSTVA“ instead of „KRALJESTVA“.
From what is shown, it can be concluded that all the first banknotes of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had spelling errors on them and that not a single banknote was printed with correct inscriptions. Why the competent authorities tasked with organizing the printing of the banknotes did not make a bit more effort to ensure everything was written correctly remains unknown to this day.
This article was originally published on the “Hrvatska numizmatika” blog in 2011. However, the blog.hr service was shut down in 2026, so we are republishing the article here with some minor changes.
Author: Zlatko Viščević
Photos: Katz Auction
