Look at the serial numbers on these 2 notes. (one has "No.", while the other has "Nr.") Would you consider them varieties, or am I being too picky by differentiating such a minor variance.







(they were scanned at different times, and I must've used different scanner settings, as they are almost identical color in hand)

I have also found the same difference in the 500 dinara note, and will soon have both varieties of them. I am now going back and re-checking some of my sources to find out if other denominations have the differences, too.

Both of these are classified by Pick as Bosnia & Herzegovina P-8h (Zenica overprint with signature & date). The different serial numbers are not listed in the 2000 edition of Pick, which I checked at the local hobby shop. I have a 2002 edition Pick on order, should arrive sometime this week, I may know more then, but I am skeptical. I am hoping to get a copy of Borna Barac's volume (the definitive reference work on Yugoslavian banknotes, written by a Croat specialist) for my birthday in 2 weeks, which might shed some more light on this.

I would consider them varieties, with the possibility that they were from different printers, or possibly one is an error- is the abbreviation for number in Bosnia Nr. of No. Is one the language of the printer, and the other the language of the country? I don't know.

Another possibility, one very easy to consider in this case due to the "primitive" nature of the notes is that one is counterfeit. Notes printed in these conditions are crudely printed in sometimes austere methods and as you note many varieties might be possible. But in a conflict such as in Bosnia, surely the other side would like to devalue their enemies currency by printing up a bunch of it and circulating it.

A quick check in the catalogue revealed that there is a picture of a 100 note with Nr. and a picture of a 500 note with No.

There was no mention of this variety in the catalogues. There was mention that the notes were handstamped with the city of origin, and notes without the counterstamp would be remainders. If they were issued in various cities, then it would be possible that they were printed in various cities and that there were simply different printers with different methods of abbreviating the word. This happened in Germany and there are different asterisks, fonts, etc in the older notes from the 1920's era.

It would be interesting to know more. When you find out more info, post it please. I'd be curious to know if it was limited to denominations or to printers, or what.

If they were indeed printed in different cities then perhaps it is a difference resulting from the different official languages within B-H?