Armenian dram

The dram Sign

After its proclamation of independence, Armenia put into circulation its own national currency, the Armenian Dram; this required a monetary 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 U+058F ֏ ARMENIAN DRAM SIGN (HTML ֏).

In 1994, a first series of aluminium coins was introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 luma, 1, 3, 5 and 10 dram. The other coins are officially in circulation but rarely used because of their low nominal value.[4][5]

First series (1994)
Image		Value	Technical parameters			Description
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
		10 luma[6]	16 mm	0.6 g	Aluminium	Smooth	Armenian coat of arms	Value, year of minting
		20 luma[7]	18 mm	0.75 g
		50 luma[8]	20 mm	0.95 g
		1[9]	22 mm	1.4 g		Reeded
		3[10]	24 mm	1.65 g
		5[11]	26 mm	2 g		Smooth
		10[12]	28 mm	2.3 g

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

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

Second series (2003-2004)
Image		Value	Technical parameters			Description
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
		10[13]	20 mm	1.3 g	Aluminium	Reeded	Armenian coat of arms	Value, ornaments, year of minting
		20[14]	20.5 mm	2.75 g	Copper-plated Steel	Smooth
		50[15]	21.5 mm	3.45 g	Brass-plated steel	Reeded
		100[16]	22.5 mm	4 g	Nickel-plated Steel
		200[17]	24 mm	4.5 g	Brass
		500[18]	22 mm	5 g	Bi-Metallic Copper-nickel center in Brass ring	Segmented reeding

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

On 22 November 1993, banknotes of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 500 dram were issued.[19] Notes for 1,000 and 5,000 dram were put into circulation later.

First series (1993-1995)
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse
		10 dram	125 x 62 mm	Brown and purple	Yerevan Train Station and David of Sasun statue	Mount Ararat
		25 dram		Yellow, brown and blue	Urartian cuneiform tablet and a lion relief from Erebuni fortress	Ornaments
		50 dram		Blue and red	National Gallery and History Museum of Armenia	Armenian parliament building
		100 dram		Blue, purple and red	Mount Ararat and Zvartnots Cathedral	Armenian Opera Theater
		200 dram	135 x 62 mm	Brown,green, yellow and red	St. Hripsime Church in Echmiadzin	Ornaments
		500 dram		Green, brown and blue	Mount Ararat and a Tigran the Great tetradrachm
		1,000 dram	145 x 68 mm	Brown and orange	Mesrop Mashtots statue and Matenadaran	7th century obelisk monument in Aghitu Memorial
		5,000 dram	145 x 71 mm	Green, yellow and purple	Temple of Garni	Bronze head of goddess Anahit kept in the British Museum

Banknotes of 50-, 100, and 500 dram are rarely seen in circulation. The 50, 100, and 500 dram coins are used instead.
A commemorative 50,000 dram note was issued on 4 June 2001 in commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Armenia. A 500 dram commemorative note was issued on 22 November 2017 to commemorate the story of Noah's Ark.

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 and Armenian Opera Theater	A scene from the ballet Gayane by Khachaturian, and Mount Ararat
		100		Blue and grey	Viktor Hambardzumyan	Byurakan Observatory
		500	129 x 72 mm	Grey	Alexander Tamanian	Government House in Yerevan designed by Alexander Tamanyan
		1,000	136 x 72 mm	Green and pink	Yeghishe Charents	An image of old Yerevan depicting the government building of the First Republic
		5,000	143 x 72 mm	Yellow and green	Hovhannes Tumanyan	Nature of Lori from Martiros Saryan's paintings
		10,000	150 x 72 mm	Purple	Avetik Isahakyan	An image of old Gyumri
		20,000	155 x 72 mm	Yellow, red and brown	Martiros Saryan	Episode from Martiros Saryan's Armenia landscape
		50,000	160 x 79 mm	Brown and red	Etchmiadzin Cathedral	St. Gregory the Illuminator and king Tiridates the Great lift up the Armenian Church; on the right - a khachkar from Kecharis Monastery.
		100,000	160 x 72 mm	Blue and brown	Abgar V of Edessa	In the centre St. Thaddeus transfers the mandylion to Abgar V of Edessa.[20]

A third series of Armenian dram banknotes were issued in 2018, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Armenia's national currency.[21] 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 100,000 dram banknote for this issue. 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
		500	140 × 76 mm	Brown and grey	Noah's Ark, Etchmiadzin Cathedral on the background of Mount Ararat	Noah, his family members and animals on the background of Mount Ararat
		1,000	130 × 72 mm	Violet	Paruyr Sevak, poems	Paryur Sevak house (museum), Zangakatun; statue of Sevak
		2,000	135 × 72 mm	Brown	Tigran Petrosian, chessboard	Tigran Petrosyan Chess House (Yerevan), statue of Petrosyan
		5,000	140 × 72 mm	Red	William Saroyan, covers from Saroyan's books, mountain	Statue of Saroyan (Yerevan)
		10,000	145 × 72 mm	Gray-purple	Komitas	Gevorkian Seminary and statue of Komitas, Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin)
		20,000	150 × 72 mm	Green	Ivan Aivazovsky	Art Museum and statue of Aivazovskiy, Feodosia (Crimea)
		50,000	155 × 72 mm	Gold	Saint Gregory the Illuminator, 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