Milan's 1879 and 1882 gold coins

Abstract

Following the exhausting wars against Turkey, Prince Milan Obrenović decided to mint larger denominations of silver and gold coins. The decision on minting these coins was explained by the fact that for the purpose of foreign payments, the expensive foreign money will no longer have to be purchased, given that the Serbian money will be recognized at its nominal value outside Serbia as well. The Law on the Serbian National Money confirmed by Prince Milan on December 10th 1878 introduced new types of metal coins into the monetary system of Serbia: 10 and 20 dinars in gold, 5 dinars in silver, and 2 paras in copper. All these coins were minted in 1879, except for the 10-dinar gold coin, minted when Prince Milan became the King, bearing the inscription of 1882. There were only 50,000 pieces of the 20-dinar gold coins minted, and it was legal tender in the Principality and Kingdom of Serbia, as well as in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, for full 52 years. In 1882 there were 500,000 pieces of 10-dinar gold coins and 200,000 pieces of 20-dinar gold coins minted. They were named Milandors, and were used as official legal tender until June 28th 1931.