Kuna and Banovac, Croatian money

In 1994, Croatian money was switched from dinar to kuna. It changed to the euro (€) on 1 Jan. 2023.

In the Croatian language, a kuna is a marten (related to the weasel and mink). In ancient times, kuna pelts were export items from many regions of what is today Croatia.

Around 1000 AD, the towns of Cres and Beli (on the island of Cres) had to pay an annual tribute in kuna pelts to the Venetian authorities. This was the first known instance of kuna pelts being used directly as payment. Later, coins were minted with an image of a kuna imprinted on them. These coins were called banovac or banica.

The banovac was used in the old Kingdom of Croatia between 1235 and 1384. Read more about the banovac coin at Wikipedia. (Note that Konavle was never part of the Kingdom of Croatia, and therefore this coin was never used here.)

Shown below is a banovac coin dated to around 1250. It was minted in either Zagreb or in what is today Slavonia, in the eastern part of Croatia.

The 4-legged animal in the middle of the coin is a kuna.

The back looks like this:

The coin is about 15 mm in diameter (0.59 inch).

Croatia changed its currency from the kuna to the euro (€) in 2023. The 1 € coin issued in Croatia has a kuna (animal) on the reverse side. The coin is 22 mm in diameter (0.87 inch).