Captivating Kuna

In this article, I am going to share "The Croatian Currency".

Like Dollars and pound, Croatia also has a unique currency.  Prior to 1994, it switched between the Kuna and Dinar.  But since then, It's only been the Kuna.  We'll be diving into some curious tales about this, focusing more on the interesting facts and instances about the Kuna.

Kuna (Kn) which in Croatian means pine marten, an animal similar to the squirrel.  In the past, pine marten’s fur was used for trading as they were prized for their very fine fur.  The winter coat of the European pine marten has always been much in demand.  I also heard that in Roman times, taxes were paid in terms of Marten skins.

Kuna paper money comes in 8 denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 Kuna notes.

I managed to lay hands on only the 10 Kuna.

The funny thing that one can notice in the notes is that the longer the man’s beard, the more value a banknote has.

5 Kuna – count Fran Krsto Frankopan and duke Petar Zrinski (withdrawn in 2007)

10    Kuna – Istrian bishop Juraj Dobrila - beardless

20    Kuna – Duke Josip Jelačić - has simple moustache

50    Kuna – poet and Dubrovnik nobleman Ivan Gundulić 

100  Kuna – Duke and poet Ivan Mažuranić- Mustache with a little beard

200  Kuna – politician Stjepan Radić

500  Kuna – poet and Split nobleman Marko Marulić

1000 Kuna – politician Ante Starčević

1, 2, and 5 Kuna come in silver colour coins too.  I have got 1 and 2 Kuna.  You can see the 'pine marten' on the below Kuna coins.

Let's look at the fragmentation.  1 Kuna is made of 100 Lipa (Lp). The word lipa means linden tree in Croatian.  It's very normal to see these trees in marketplaces in the olden days.  As it has wider branches and dense structure, it served as an umbrella for the sellers.  It is a wonderful medicinal plant too.  Their, flowers, leaves, and barks are used to treat many diseases, especially lung-related ones.  You can see their leaves on the below Lipa coins.

Lipa has its own coin denominations -1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50. All are silver colour, except 5 and 10 Lipa which is golden.  Looking for 1 and 2 Lipa to add to my collection.