Armenian dram facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Armenian dram
֏100,000 banknote, the highest denominated banknote in circulation.
ISO 4217 Code	AMD
Official user(s)	Armenia
Unofficial user(s)	Georgia: Javakheti (Javakhk) region (de facto until c. 2005)
Inflation	-0.6%
Source	[1], December 2023
Subunit
1⁄100	luma (լումա)
Symbol	֏
Plural	The language(s) of this currency does not have a morphological plural distinction.
Coins
Freq. used	֏10, ֏20, ֏50, ֏100, ֏200, ֏500
Rarely used	10, 20, 50 luma, ֏1, ֏3, ֏5
Banknotes
Freq. used	֏1,000, ֏2,000, ֏5,000, ֏10,000, ֏20,000, ֏50,000
Rarely used	֏50, ֏100, ֏500, ֏100,000

The Armenian dram (Armenian: դրամ; sign: ֏; abbreviation: դր.; ISO code: AMD) is the currency of Armenia. It was historically subdivided into 100 luma (լումա). The Central Bank of Armenia is responsible for issuance and circulation of dram banknotes and coins, as well as implementing the monetary policy of Armenia.

The word dram means "money" and is cognate with the Greek drachma and the Arabic dirham, as well as the English weight unit dram.

History

The first instance of a "dram" currency was in the period from 1199 to 1375, when silver coins called dram or tram were issued. Dram or Takvorin coinage would periodically continue to be produced for some time until the loss of Armenia's independence. The establishment of Russian Armenia saw the adoption of the Imperial ruble, followed by a series of attempts to localize the Russian ruble under the Soviet Union and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On 21 September 1991, a national referendum proclaimed Armenia as a republic independent from the Soviet Union. The Central Bank of Armenia, established on 27 March 1993, was given the exclusive right of issuing the national currency.

In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union attempts were made to maintain a common currency (the Russian rouble) among CIS states. Armenia joined this rouble zone. However it soon became clear that maintaining a currency union in the unstable political and economical circumstances of the post-Soviet states would be very difficult. The Rouble Zone effectively collapsed with the unilateral 1993 Russian monetary reform process. As a result, the remaining CIS participants – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Moldova, Armenia and Georgia – were 'pushed out' and forced to introduce separate currencies. Armenia was one of the last countries to do so when it introduced the dram on 22 November 1993.

Armenian dram sign

The dram sign

As the result of common business practice and the unique pattern of Armenian letters, the shape of the sign and its variations appeared in the business scratches (daybooks). Until the official endorsement of the sign a number of artists and businessmen developed and offered various shapes for it. Now the dram symbol is included in the Armenian standard for the national characters and symbols and in the Armenian computer fonts. The current standard sign for the Armenian dram (֏, image: ; Armenian: Դրամ; code: AMD) was designed in 1995. In Unicode, it is encoded at Error using : Input "058f" is not a hexadecimal value..

Coins

In 1994, a first series of aluminium coins was introduced in denominations of 10, 20, and 50 luma, 1, 3, 5, and 10 drams. In 2003 and 2004, a second series consisting of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 dram coins was introduced to replace the first series.

The Central Bank has also issued a great number of commemorative coins intended for sale to collectors. A listing can be found at the authorized central bank distributors.

First series (1994–2002)

In 1994, a first series of aluminium coins was introduced in denominations of 10, 20, and 50 luma, 1, 3, 5, and 10 drams. The other coins are officially in circulation but rarely used because of their low nominal value.

First series (1994)
Image		Value	Technical parameters			Description
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
		10 luma	16 mm	0.6 g	Aluminium	Smooth	Armenian coat of arms	Value, year of minting
		20 luma	18 mm	0.75 g
		50 luma	20 mm	0.95 g
		֏1	22 mm	1.4 g		Reeded
		֏3	24 mm	1.65 g
		֏5	26 mm	2 g		Smooth
		֏10	28 mm	2.3 g
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

• All coins bear the year of the first issue (1994).

Second series (2003–present)

In 2003 and 2004, a new series of coins was introduced in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 drams.

Second series (2003-2004)
Image		Value	Technical parameters			Description
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
		֏10	20 mm	1.3 g	Aluminium	Reeded	Armenian coat of arms	Value, ornaments, year of minting
		֏20	20.5 mm	2.75 g	Copper-plated Steel	Smooth
		֏50	21.5 mm	3.45 g	Brass-plated steel	Reeded
		֏100	22.5 mm	4 g	Nickel-plated Steel
		֏200	24 mm	4.5 g	Brass
		֏500	22 mm	5 g	Bi-Metallic Copper-nickel center in Brass ring	Segmented reeding
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

• All coins bear the year of the first issue (2003 or 2004).

Banknotes

A first series of banknotes was issued in November 1993. It was withdrawn from circulation by 2005. A second series was issued from 1998 onwards which is still in use at present.

First series (1993–1998)

On 22 November 1993, banknotes of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500 drams were issued. Notes for ֏1,000 and ֏5,000 were put into circulation later.

First series (1993–1998)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		֏10	125 x 62 mm	Brown and purple	Yerevan Train Station and David of Sasun statue	Mount Ararat
		֏25		Yellow, brown and blue	Urartian cuneiform tablet and a lion relief from Erebuni fortress	Ornaments
		֏50		Blue and red	National Gallery and History Museum of Armenia	Armenian parliament building
		֏100		Blue, purple and red	Mount Ararat and Zvartnots Cathedral	Yerevan Opera Theatre
		֏200	135 x 62 mm	Brown,green, yellow and red	Saint Hripsime Church in Echmiadzin	Ornaments
		֏500		Green, brown and blue	Mount Ararat and a Tigranes the Great tetradrachm
		֏1,000	145 x 68 mm	Brown and orange	Mesrop Mashtots statue and Matenadaran	7th century obelisk monument in Aghitu Memorial
		֏5,000	145 x 71 mm	Green, yellow and purple	Temple of Garni	Bronze head of goddess Anahit (Satala Aphrodite) kept in the British Museum
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Second series (1998–2017)

Banknotes of ֏50, ֏100, and ֏500 are rarely seen in circulation. Coins of ֏50, ֏100, and ֏500 are used instead.
A commemorative ֏50,000 note was issued on 4 June 2001 in commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Armenia.

Second series (1998–2017)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		֏50	122 x 65  mm	Pink, blue and grey	Aram Khachaturian (1903–1978) and Armenian Opera Theater	A scene from the ballet Gayane by Khachaturian, and Mount Ararat
		֏100		Blue and grey	Viktor Hambardzumyan (1908–1996)	Byurakan Observatory
		֏500	129 x 72 mm	Grey	Alexander Tamanian (1878–1936)	Government House in Yerevan designed by Alexander Tamanyan
		֏1,000	136 x 72 mm	Green and pink	Yeghishe Charents (1897–1937)	An image of old Yerevan depicting the government building of the First Republic
		֏5,000	143 x 72 mm	Yellow and green	Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869–1923)	Nature scene from Lori, from one of Martiros Saryan's paintings
		֏10,000	150 x 72 mm	Purple	Avetik Isahakyan (1875–1957)	An image of old Gyumri
		֏20,000	155 x 72 mm	Yellow, red and brown	Martiros Saryan (1880–1972)	Detail from an Armenian landscape by Martiros Saryan
		֏50,000	160 x 79 mm	Brown and red	Etchmiadzin Cathedral	St. Gregory the Illuminator and king Tiridates the Great holding a symbol representing the Armenian Church; on the right, a khachkar from Kecharis Monastery.
		֏100,000	160 x 72 mm	Blue	Abgar V of Edessa	Abgar V of Edessa receiving the mandylion from St. Thaddeus (not pictured).
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

500 dram commemorative note (2017)

A 500 dram commemorative note was issued on 22 November 2017 to commemorate the story of Noah's Ark. And to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Armenia's national currency.

commemorative note (2017)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		֏500	140 × 76 mm	Brown and grey	Reliquary containing a fragment of Noah's Ark (left); etching by Friedrich Parrot of Etchmiadzin Cathedral with Mount Ararat in the background	Etching by Jacob Carolsfeld of Noah, his family members and animals against the background of Mount Ararat
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Third series (2018–present)

A third series of Armenian dram banknotes was issued in 2018, All denominations for this series are the same as its previous issues, with the 2,000 dram banknote as a newly introduced denomination, the 50,000 dram banknote re-issued for this series and the omission of the 50, 100, 500, and 100,000 dram banknotes for this issue. The new series are printed on hybrid substrates of Louisenthal.

The first three denominations, ֏10,000, ֏20,000 and ֏50,000, were issued on November 22, 2018. The final three denominations, ֏1,000, ֏2,000 and ֏5,000 were issued on December 25, 2018.

Third series (2018–present)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		֏1,000	130 × 72 mm	Violet	Paruyr Sevak (1924–1971), poems	Paryur Sevak house (museum), Zangakatun; statue of Sevak
		֏2,000	135 × 72 mm	Brown	Tigran Petrosian (1929–1984), chessboard	Tigran Petrosian Chess House (Yerevan), statue of Petrosyan
		֏5,000	140 × 72 mm	Red	William Saroyan (1908–1981), covers from Saroyan's books, mountain	Statue of Saroyan (Yerevan)
		֏10,000	145 × 72 mm	Gray-purple	Komitas (1869–1935)	Gevorgian Seminary and statue of Komitas, Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin)
		֏20,000	150 × 72 mm	Green	Ivan Aivazovsky (1817–1900)	Aivazovsky National Art Gallery Museum and statue of Aivazovskiy, Feodosia (Crimea)
		֏50,000	155 × 72 mm	Gold	Saint Gregory the Illuminator (257–331), manuscripts telling the life of St. Gregory, images of the dome of the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin and the winged cross	Khor Virap monastery (Chapel of St. Gregory), Ararat Plain, tombstone of St. Gregory the Illuminator (Etchmiadzin), statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Exchange rates

The modern dram came into effect on 22 November 1993, at a rate of Rbls 200 = 1 dram (US$1 = 404 drams).

Note: Rates obtained from these websites may be slightly different from the rates the Central Bank of Armenia publishes

See also

In Spanish: Dram armenio para niños

• Artsakh dram
• Economy of Armenia
• List of currencies
• List of currencies in Europe
• List of circulating currencies