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The convertible mark ( Bosanski: ,
sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
: KM;
code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
: BAM) is the
currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...
of
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
. It is divided into 100 or (/) and locally abbreviated ''KM''. While the currency and its subunits are uniform for both constituent polities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists ...
(FBiH) and
Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...
(RS), the designs of the KM 10, KM 20, KM 50, and KM 100 banknotes are differentiated for each polity.


History

The
convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...
mark was established by the 1995
Dayton Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски мир ...
. It replaced the
Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar The Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar was the independent currency of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1998. History Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia in March 1992. The first Bosnian dinar was issued in J ...
,
Croatian kuna The kuna is the currency of Croatia, in use since 1994 (sign: kn; code: HRK). It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Mint. The plural form of the word kuna in Cro ...
and Yugoslav novi dinar as the single currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998. ''Mark'' refers to the
Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
, the currency to which it was pegged at par.


Etymology

The names derive from
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
. The three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian, have adopted the German nouns and as loanwords ''marka'' and ''pfenig''. The Official Gazette of BiH (Bosnian: ), Official newspaper of FBiH (Bosnian: ) and other official documents recognised ''pfenig'' or ''пфениг'' (depending on the script; Bosnian and Serbian use both Latin and Cyrillic equally, while Croatian uses only Latin) as the name of the subdivision. Banknotes of 50 fenings circulated from 1998 to 2003. They were denoted "50 KONVERTIBILNIH PFENIGA" / "50 КОНВЕРТИБИЛНИХ ПФЕНИГА"; technically, the word ''convertible'' should not qualify the word ''pfenig'' because only the mark is convertible. ''(See Errors for all of the errors on banknotes and coins.)'' Coins of 10, 20, and 50 pfenigs have circulated since 1998 (the 5-pfenigs coin was released in 2006). All of them are inscribed "" / "" on the
obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...
. The misspelling / has never been corrected, and it took such a hold that it was officially adopted and not recognised as incorrect.


Plurals and cases

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
is subject to a
case system A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nomina ...
. For the purposes of pluralizing currency terms, three situations are relevant: *In combination with numbers 1, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 101, 1001, et cetera (i. e. all numbers ending in "1" except 11), nouns use the
nominative In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
case
singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular homology * SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS) * Singular or sounder, a group of boar, ...
(the base form): ::''màrka'' (màr: ''a'' – short vowel, rising tone) and ''pfénig''/''féning'' ((p)fé: ''e'' – short vowel, rising tone) *In combination with numbers whose final digit is 2, 3, or 4 (except 12, 13, and 14), nouns use the genitive case
singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular homology * SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS) * Singular or sounder, a group of boar, ...
(the "
paucal In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more"). English and other languages present number categories of ...
form"): ::''màrke'' (màr: ''a'' – short vowel, rising tone) and ''pféniga''/''féninga'' ((p)fé: ''e'' – short vowel, rising tone) *In combination with numbers 0, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 100, 1000, 10000, et cetera (i. e. all numbers ending in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 11, 12, 13, or 14), nouns use the
genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
case plural: ::''mȁrākā'' (mȁr: ''a'' – short vowel, falling tone; vowels ''ā'' are not accented but have genitive length) and ''pfénīgā''/''fénīngā'' ((p)fé: ''e'' – short vowel, rising tone; vowels ''ī'' and ''ā'' are not accented but have genitive length) :''(For further information on accents in BSC, see
Serbo-Croatian phonology Serbo-Croatian is a South Slavic language with four national standards. The Eastern Herzegovinian Neo-Shtokavian dialect forms the basis for Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian (the four national standards). Standard Serbo-Croatian ...
and Shtokavian dialect#Accentuation.)''
For the pfenig, the plural is ''pfeniga''/''feninga'' with a short unaccented ''a'', whereas the genitive plural is the same ''pfeniga''/''feninga'' but with a long unaccented ''i'' and ''a''. A syllable after an accented syllable whose vowel is pronounced long and with a continuous tone, i. e. neither rising or falling, is said to have a genitive length (although the word does not necessarily have to be in the genitive case in order to have genitive length on its syllable; it can be in the
locative In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
also). These matters should be noted when the local names are used in English. For example, the English plural "ten pfenigas" / "ten feningas" is incorrect because the final ''a'' in the BSC plural ''pfeniga''/''feninga'' already indicates the plural. Therefore "ten pfenigs" / "ten fenings" should be used. The
Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Centralna banka Bosne i Hercegovine'' / Централна банка Босне и Херцеговине) is the central bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in t ...
(CBBH) uses "fenings" as the English plural. Likewise, "twenty-one markas", "two markes", and "twelve marakas" are incorrect; "twenty-one marks", "two marks", and "twelve marks", respectively, are correct.


Coins

In December 1998, coins were introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 fenings. Coins of 5 fenings, KM 1, KM 2 and KM 5 were introduced later. The coins were designed by Bosnian designer Kenan Zekic and minted at the
Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...
in
Llantrisant Llantrisant (; "Parish of the Three Saints") is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The three saints of the town's name are SS ...
(
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, UK).


Banknotes

In 1998, notes were introduced in denominations of 50 fenings, KM 1, KM 5, KM 10, KM 20, KM 50, and KM 100. KM 200 notes were added in 2002, while the 50-fening and KM 1 and KM 5 notes were later withdrawn from circulation. All current notes are valid throughout the nation. The Central Bank of Bosnia Herzegovina issues the banknotes, with distinct designs for the constituent polities of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists ...
and the
Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...
,1 except for the largest denomination, i. e. the KM 200 note. On the notes for the Republika Srpska, inscriptions are printed first in Cyrillic and then Latin script, and vice versa. Banknotes, with the exception of the KM 200 note, are printed by the French company Oberthur.


Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina issues


Republika Srpska issues


Nationwide issues

The portraits of
Ivan Franjo Jukić Ivan Franjo Jukić (8 July 1818 – 20 May 1857) was a Bosnian writer and Franciscan friar from Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose life and cultural and political legacy have left an indelible mark on the cultural history of the country, where he is re ...
and
Meša Selimović Mehmed "Meša" Selimović (; ; 26 April 1910 – 11 July 1982) was a Yugoslav writer, whose novel '' Death and the Dervish'' is one of the most important literary works in post-World War II Yugoslavia. Some of the main themes in his works are the ...
, which are both writers, were featured by consensus between both entities on all KM 1 and KM 5 notes used between 1998 and 2010. On 15 May 2002, a KM 200 banknote, designed by
Robert Kalina The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, was introduced during a promotion that was held in the Central Bank of BH. The reverse design which depicts a bridge is meant to resemble the euro banknotes, which were also designed by Robert Kalina. After an international tender, the Austrian company Oesterreichische Banknoten und Sicherheitsdruck GmbH (OeBS) in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
was chosen to print the notes. Initially, six million were ordered.


Exchange rates

Initially the mark was pegged to the
Deutsche mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
at par. Since the replacement of the German mark by the
euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
in 2002, the Bosnian convertible mark uses the same
fixed exchange rate A fixed exchange rate, often called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is fixed or pegged by a monetary authority against the value of another currency, a basket of other currencies, or another m ...
to euro that the German mark had (that is,


Errors

Banknotes and coins of Bosnia and Herzegovina have many mistakes and inconsistencies. Officially, only one banknote has not been released in circulation because of a mistake, even though other banknotes with mistakes had been issued.


Banknote examples

These are the most important mistakes that have been noticed to date: * Both designs of the 50 fening banknote imprinted the adjective "convertible" next to the noun "pfenig", although only the mark has the "convertible" prefix ("50 KONVERTIBILNIH PFENIGA" / "50 КОНВЕРТИБИЛНИХ ПФЕНИГА"). * The KM 1 banknote for
Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...
was imprinted "ИВО АНДРИЂ / IVO ANDRIĐ" instead of "ИВО АНДРИЋ / IVO ANDRIĆ". This banknote was immediately removed from circulation. * Both designs of the KM 5 banknote had the Cyrillic word "five" incorrectly printed in Latin script on its reverse ("PET КОНВЕРТИБИЛНИХ МАРАКА", instead of "ПЕТ ..."). Also, Meša Selimović's name is written in Cyrillic as "Меща Селимовић" instead of "Meша Селимовић" (the letter ''щ'' is not used in any of the Balkan Cyrillic-written languages except
Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...
). * The KM 10 banknote for
Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...
, first series, 1998, had
Aleksa Šantić Aleksa Šantić ( sr-Cyrl, Алекса Шантић, (); 27 May 1868 – 2 February 1924) was a poet from Bosnia and Herzegovina. His poetry reflecting both the urban culture of the region. The most common themes of his poems are social injus ...
's name printed in Latin script although it should have been printed in Cyrillic script as it is on all other examples of the 1998 series. * Both designs of the KM 100 banknote were incorrectly printed with the Cyrillic abbreviation of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina with "Џ / Dž" instead of "Ц / C" (i. e. "ЏББХ / DžBBH" instead of "ЦББХ / CBBH") in the safety bar. * In 2017, Edin Bujak of the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Philosophy in
Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
noticed a mistake on the KM 10 banknote for the Federation of B&H. The picture of the
stećak Stećak (, ) or Stećci in plural form (, ) is the name for monumental medieval tombstones, that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the border ...
on the reverse is actually a picture of a stećak from Križevići, Olovo and not from the
Radimlja Radimlja ( sr-cyr, Радимља) is a stećak necropolis located near Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in Vidovo polje, 3 km west of Stolac, on the Čapljina-Stolac road. The Radimlja necropolis is one of the most valuable mon ...
necropolis as stated on the banknote. The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed this mistake, and it will be corrected in future printing of the banknote.


Coin examples

These are the most important mistakes that have been noticed to date: * The name of the subdivision of the convertible mark has been incorrectly engraved on coins: the word "pfenig" has been engraved as "fening". This mistake has taken such a hold, especially because there were and are no 50 pfenig/fening banknotes in circulation, that "fening" was officially adopted as the name of the hundredth unit of the KM and is not recognized as incorrect.


See also

*
Currencies related to the euro The international status and usage of the euro has grown since its launch in 1999. When the euro formally replaced 12 currencies on 1 January 2002, it inherited their use in territories such as Montenegro and replaced minor currencies tied ...
*
Economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina The economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a transitional, upper middle income economy. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from socialist Yugoslavia on 1 March 1992. The main trading partners are Germany, Italy, Austria, Turkey and other ...


Notes


References


External links


Historical and current banknotes of Bosnia and Herzegovina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosnia And Herzegovina Convertible Mark Circulating currencies Currencies introduced in 1998
currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...
Fixed exchange rate