The Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian: , Bosnian/Serbian: ; sign: KM; code: BAM) is the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is divided into 100  or  (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian: /; Bosnian/Serbian: /) and locally abbreviated KM.
History
The convertible mark was established by the 1995 Dayton Agreement.
It replaced the Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar, Croatian kuna and Republika Srpska dinar as the single currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998.
Mark refers to the German mark, the currency to which it was pegged at par.
Etymology
The names derive from the German language.
The three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian) have adopted 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 on an equal footing, while Croatian uses only Latin) as the name of the subdivision.
Banknotes of 50 fenings/pfenigs were in circulation from 1998 to 2000.
They were denoted as "50 KONVERTIBILNIH PFENIGA" / "50 КОНВЕРТИБИЛНИХ ПФЕНИГА"; technically, the word convertible should not qualify the word pfenig because only the mark can be convertible.
(See Mistakes for all of the mistakes on banknotes and coins.)
Coins of 10, 20 and 50 pfenigs have been in circulation since 1998 (the 5-pfenigs coin was released in 2006).
All of them are inscribed "" / "" on the obverse.
The misspelling / has never been corrected, and it took so much hold that is now officially adopted and not recognised as an incorrect name.
Plurals and cases
Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian are subjudct to a case system.
In addition, it is important to note that they use three plural forms.
In combination with numbers 1, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 101, 1001, … (i.e. ending in 1 but not 11) nouns use the nominative case singular (the base form):
màrka (màr: a – short vowel, rising tone) and pfénig/féning ((p)fé: e – short vowel, rising tone)
In combination with numbers that for the rightmost digit have 2, 3 or 4 (except 12, 13 and 14) nouns use the genitive case singular (so called "the paucal 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 etc. (i.e. ending in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 11, 12, 13 or 14) nouns use the genitive 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 and Shtokavian dialect#Accentuation.)
For the pfenig, the plural is pfeniga/feninga with a short unaccented a, whereas the genitive plural is pfeniga/feninga (same) but with a long unaccented i and a.
A syllable after an accented syllable whose vowel is pronounced long and with a continuous tone (neither rising or falling) is said to have a genitive length (although, the word does not necessarily to be in the genitive case in order to have genitive length on its syllable; it can be in the locative, too).
These matters should be noted when one uses the local names in English.
For example, the English plural "ten pfenigas" / "ten feningas" is incorrect as the final a in the BSC plural pfeniga/feninga already indicates the plural.
So, "ten pfenigs" / "ten fenings" should be used instead.
The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) uses "fenings" as the English plural.
Likewise, "twenty-one markas" / "two markes" / "twelve marakas" is incorrect; "twenty-one marks" / "two marks" / "twelve marks" should be used instead.
Coins
In December 1998, coins were introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 fenings/pfenigs.
Coins of 1, 2 and 5 marks were introduced later.
The coins were designed by Bosnian designer Kenan ZekicWebsite of Kenan Zekic.
Available at: http://kenanzekic.com.ba/ and minted at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant (Wales, UK).
Banknotes
In 1998, notes were introduced in denominations of 50 fenings/pfenigs, 1 mark, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 marks.
200-mark notes were added in 2002, whilst the 50-fening/pfenig, 1- and 5-mark notes were later withdrawn from circulation.
All current notes are valid throughout the country.
The banknotes are issued by the Central Bank of Bosnia Herzegovina, with distinct designs for the entities of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska,1 except for the largest denomination – 200-mark note.
On the notes of the Republika Srpska, inscriptions are printed in Cyrillic, then Latin script, and vice versa.
Banknotes, with the exception of the 200-mark note, are printed by the French company Oberthur.Mulic, Josef (2000).
Papirini novac na tlu Bosne i Hercegovine od 1918.
godine do danas Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina issues
Republika Srpska issues
Nationwide issues
The portraits of Ivan Franjo Jukić and Meša Selimović, which are both writers, were featured by consensus between both entities on all 1 and 5  notes used between 1998 and 2010.
On 15 May 2002, a 200  banknote, designed by Robert Kalina, 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 was chosen to print the notes.
Initially, six million were ordered.
Exchange rates
Initially the mark was pegged to the German mark at par.
Since the replacement of the German mark by the euro in 2002, the Bosnian convertible mark uses the same fixed exchange rate to euro that the German mark had (that is, Mistakes
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.
Examples
These are the most important mistakes that have been noticed till now:
The #50 fenings/pfenigs banknote in both designs had the adjective "convertible" next to the noun "pfenig" although only the mark can be convertible ("50 KONVERTIBILNIH PFENIGA" / "50 КОНВЕРТИБИЛНИХ ПФЕНИГА").
The #1 KM banknote for Republika Srpska was imprinted "ИВО АНДРИЂ / IVO ANDRIĐ" instead of "ИВО АНДРИЋ / IVO ANDRIĆ".
This banknote was immediately removed from circulation.
The #5 KM banknote in both designs had the Cyrillic word "five" incorrectly printed in Latin script on its reverse side ("PET КОНВЕРТИБИЛНИХ МАРАКА", instead of "ПЕТ ...").
The #10 KM banknote for Republika Srpska (first series, 1998) had Aleksa Šantić's name printed in Latin script although it should have been printed in Cyrillic script as it is on all other examples in the 1998 series.
The #100 KM banknote in both designs was incorrectly printed, with the Cyrillic abbreviation (acronym) 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.
The name of the subdivision of the convertible mark found on coins has been incorrectly written, the word "pfenig" being written as "fening".
This mistake took so much hold (especially because there were no (and are no) 50 pfenigs/fenings banknotes in circulation) that "fening" is now officially adopted and not recognized as incorrect for the KM's hundredth part.
In 2017, Edin Bujak from the Department of archaeology of the  Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo noticed a mistake on the 10 KM banknote for the Federation of B&H.
The picture of the stećak on the reverse side is actually a picture of a stećak from Križevići, Olovo, and not from the Radimlja necropolis as stated on banknote.
The Central bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed this mistake, and it will be corrected in the future printing of the banknote.
See also
Currencies related to the euro
Economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Notes
References
External links
Historical and current banknotes of Bosnia and Herzegovina
