500 Dinara, SFR Yugoslavia, 1981

This copy

Accession

OM-00554

Serial

AU 5755467

Series year

1981

Actually issued

1981

Signatures

This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.

Grade

VF (IBNS)

Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not.

Estimated value

$3 indicative

Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-10-03.

Dimensions

144.9 × 65.1 mm (±2.1, from the scan)

Themes

SocialistYugoslaviaNikola TeslaScience

The type

Type

500 Dinara, SFR Yugoslavia, 1981

Portrait

Nikola Tesla

Printer

Zavod za izradu novčanica, Beograd

Rarity

common

Symbology

Nikola Tesla

The physicist and electrical engineer (1856–1943), shown as the seated monument figure; a recurring national emblem on Yugoslav currency.

What was happening

The 500 dinara, dated 4 November 1981 — the first appearance of Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) on Yugoslav paper money, in the form of the seated monument figure with an open book rather than a photographic portrait. Tesla, born to a Serb family in what is now Croatia, was claimed across Yugoslavia as a national genius, and his image would return again and again on the dinar — including on the hyperinflation notes of the 1990s ([[yugoslavia-1000-dinara-1992]], [[yugoslavia-5000-dinara-1993]]).

The reverse is ornamental; printed at the Zavod za izradu novčanica in Belgrade.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 500 Dinara, SFR Yugoslavia, 1981 in the collection.