Algerian Dinar Banknotes: From the Banque de l'Algérie Franc to the Bank of Algeria
Algeria names its banknote series the way a publisher names a collection. Industrial Growth. Heritage and Construction. History and Heritage. Tradition and Modernity. Heroes of the Revolution. Each title covers a run of notes with a date range published by the central bank, and together they turn sixty years of Algerian paper money into five chapters you can collect.
Central bank created 13 December 1962 Dinar created in 1964 Five named series since 1964 Notes produced at the bank's Hôtel des Monnaies
Last updated: September 2026
Algeria uses the dinar, created in 1964 by presidential decree, and its banknotes are issued by the Bank of Algeria. The central bank was set up by law 62-144, voted on 13 December 1962, and it put the first four dinar notes into circulation two years later. Before the dinar, Algerian paper money was the franc notes of the Banque de l'Algérie.
What currency does Algeria use?
Algeria uses the dinar. The notes are issued by the Bank of Algeria, which dates itself to law 62-144, voted by the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1962 and fixing its statutes under the name Banque Centrale d'Algérie (Banque d'Algérie, Histoire de la Banque).
The name and the mandate moved together over four laws. The bank records law 86-12 of 19 August 1986 as the start of a wider overhaul of the Algerian banking system, then law 90-10 of 14 April 1990 as the first law to frame and define the central bank and the banking system completely. Ordinance 03-11 of 26 August 2003 repealed the 1990 law, and the bank's account of that ordinance says it conferred broad organic and functional autonomy on the central bank, henceforth called the Banque d'Algérie. Law 23-09 of 21 June 2023 is the current framework.
Issue itself is a delegated monopoly. The state delegates to the Bank of Algeria alone the privilege of issuing fiduciary money, and the bank determines the recognition features of a note or a coin and sets the rules for controlling their manufacture and their destruction. Manufacture is in house: the bank's Direction Générale de l'Hôtel des Monnaies produces the banknote and coin denominations, along with medals, the national passport without personalisation, stamps and vignettes, diplomas and cheques (Banque d'Algérie, Hôtel des Monnaies). Algeria is not the only North African central bank that manufactures its own currency, and the other case is covered in our Moroccan dirham banknotes hub.
Who issued Algeria's franc banknotes?
The Banque de l'Algérie, the note-issuing bank of the French administration. The standard catalog lists the franc-era notes under that issuer name, among them a 1913 to 1926 issue whose dates run on into the 1930s (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, read September 2026).
The 100 franc note shows what that material looks like. Its face is purple and brown on a blue underprint, with two boys at the left and a man with a camel at the right, and the catalog splits it into two varieties by date: P-81a carries the dates 3 January 1921 and 22 September 1921, and P-81b runs from 1 May 1928 to 20 October 1938. Ten years of one design under a single Pick number is a long run for any issuer.
The bank's building tells the rest of the story. Its first head office was at 8 boulevard Zighoud Youcef in Algiers, erected during the first decade of the twentieth century and intended from the start to house the Banque de l'Algérie. The Bank of Algeria used it as its head office until July 1991, when the leadership moved to the site renamed in 2020 after the bank's first governor, Mohamed Seghir Mostefaï.
When was the Algerian dinar created?
In 1964. The Bank of Algeria states it plainly: in 1964 the Algerian dinar was created by presidential decree, and the Banque centrale d'Algérie put the first series of banknotes into circulation the same year, a series of four denominations illustrating landscapes of the northern and southern regions of the country (Banque d'Algérie, Les premiers billets de l'Algérie indépendante).
The four notes were 5, 10, 50 and 100 dinars, and the bank publishes what is on each of them. The 5 dinars shows a vulture and a golden eagle on two rock pinnacles, with sheep among cactus and agave on the back and the shepherd seen from behind. The 10 dinars puts a stork's nest against two minarets, with a woman sifting wheat for couscous and three women weaving a traditional carpet on the reverse. The 50 dinars takes the desert, with nomads and camels on one side and Barbary sheep on the other.
The 100 dinars was the first of the series to reach circulation. The bank describes it as showing the port of Algiers in full activity and the growth of town planning in Algerian cities. The catalog puts the harbour scene on the face and a modern building complex on the back, with a watermark of Amir Abd el-Kader.
The 1964 notes came in two block-number styles, and they are priced differently. The catalog splits the 100 dinars of 1964 into P-125a, described as French block number style with series 34 to 1576, and P-125b, described as Algerian block number style with series 1717 to 1917. In Very Fine 20 the earlier style is listed at $35 against $20 for the later one, and in Uncirculated 60 at $90 against $80 (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, read September 2026). Check the block before you check the grade.
What were the first two dinar series?
They are the series the bank calls Essor industriel, Industrial Growth, and Édifications. The first covers the notes issued between 1970 and 1978, the second the notes issued between 1981 and 1984 under the theme vestiges et édification, heritage and construction.
The Industrial Growth series has a named artist, which is unusual. The bank says it was issued at a pivotal stage in the country's economic development, refers to the two economic levers of the decade, the agrarian revolution and the launch of the industrial machine, and is marked by the artistic touch of M'hamed Issiakhem, recognised as one of the founders of modern painting (Banque d'Algérie, La série Essor industriel). The 5, 10, 100 and 500 dinars are dated 1970 and the 50 dinars 1978.
The Édifications series is shorter and stranger. The bank lists a 100 dinars for 1981, a 20 dinars and a 200 dinars for 1983 and a 10 dinars for 1984 (Banque d'Algérie, La série édifications). Its own withdrawal notice dates that 10 dinars to 1983 rather than 1984 and dates the Industrial Growth 50 dinars to 1977 rather than 1978, so a collector reading both pages will find a year of daylight between them in two places. Where the bank disagrees with itself, the note in hand settles it: read the date printed on the paper.
Algerian banknote series at a glance
The table sets the issuers and named series side by side, using the bank's own titles, dates and design descriptions.
| Issuer or series | Period | Denominations | Main motifs | Production note, where the bank gives one |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banque de l'Algérie, franc notes | 1913 to 1926 issue, dated to 1938 | 100 francs among others; the catalogued 100 franc dates run from 3 January 1921 to 20 October 1938 | 100 francs: purple and brown on a blue underprint, two boys at left and a man with a camel at right | |
| First notes of independent Algeria | 1964 | 5, 10, 50 and 100 dinars | Landscapes of the north and the south: vulture and golden eagle on rock pinnacles, a stork's nest before two minarets, nomads and camels with Barbary sheep, the port of Algiers and new town planning | |
| Essor industriel, Industrial Growth | 1970 and 1978 | 5, 10, 100 and 500 dinars in 1970; 50 dinars in 1978 | The agrarian revolution and the launch of industry, with artwork by the painter M'hamed Issiakhem | |
| Édifications, themed vestiges et édification | 1981 to 1984 | 100 dinars 1981; 20 and 200 dinars 1983; 10 dinars 1984 | Heritage sites and construction | |
| Histoire et patrimoine, History and Heritage | 1992 to 1998 | 100, 200 and 500 dinars 1992; 1000 dinars 1995; 500 and 1000 dinars 1998 | A scene from the battle of El Harrach of 1775 (100), a Quran reading in a Quranic school (200), Numidian and Roman armies (500), Tassili n'Ajjer rock art with a prehistoric buffalo (1000) | The 1998 notes add a 13 mm LEAD hologram, a PEAK graphic and a micro-printed window security thread |
| Tradition et modernité, Tradition and Modernity | 2011 to 2018 | 2000 dinars 2011; 1000 and 500 dinars 2018 | Science, technology and endogenous development (2000); the Great Mosque of Algiers with traditional objects on the back (1000); the Alcomsat 1 satellite and communication vectors (500); Emir Abdelkader watermark throughout | |
| Héros de la révolution, Heroes of the Revolution | From 2020 | 2000 dinars | The photograph of the group of six historic leaders against a background of mountains; a foggara and the Imedghassen mausoleum on the back | |
| Commemorative 2000 dinars | 2022 | 2000 dinars | Maqam Echahid printed vertically, the minaret of Djamaa El Djazaïr, the Hoggar mountains behind a transparent window, coastal mountains, the Roman ruins of Tipasa, a palm tree and a camel caravan | Two layers of paper with a polymer layer between them, which the bank says gives the note greater longevity and strength |
Series data from the Bank of Algeria's pages for the notes in circulation and for the history of the banknote, which list the theme, motifs, dimensions, watermark and colour tone of each denomination.
What banknotes are in circulation in Algeria today?
Three named series circulate side by side. History and Heritage covers the notes issued between 1992 and 1998, Tradition and Modernity was launched in 2011 and runs to 2018, and Heroes of the Revolution opened with a 2000 dinar note created in December 2020.
History and Heritage is the deepest of the three. Its 100 dinars of 1992 measures 130 by 71.7 mm, is blue, is watermarked with interlaced gazelle heads and shows a scene from the battle of El Harrach of 1775 on the front with Algerian naval vessels on the back. The 200 dinars is reddish brown at 140 mm, watermarked with Barb horse heads, and shows a Quran reading in a Quranic school. The 500 dinars is reddish violet at 150 mm, watermarked with elephant heads, and shows Numidian and Roman armies. The 1000 dinars, created by regulation 95-05 of 8 July 1995, is bistre violet at 160 mm, watermarked with prehistoric buffalo heads, and honours the rock art of the Tassili n'Ajjer national park, with a gazelle engraving from the Tin Taghirt site on the back (Banque d'Algérie, Histoire et patrimoine).
Tradition and Modernity is where Algeria starts dating its notes to the day. The 2000 dinars went into circulation on 28 April 2011 with a theme of science, technology and endogenous development. The 1000 dinars was created by regulation 2018-08 of 4 November 2018 and entered circulation on 1 December of the same year, carrying the Great Mosque of Algiers on the front and drawings of traditional objects on the back. The 500 dinars was created by regulation 2018-05 of 4 November 2018 and bears the symbolic date 1 November 2018, with the Alcomsat 1 satellite (Banque d'Algérie, Tradition et modernité). All three carry an Emir Abdelkader watermark, and the 1000 and 500 add the denomination beneath the bust.
Heroes of the Revolution opened with a single note. Under regulation 2020-05 of 7 December 2020 the bank issued a 2000 dinar note and launched it into circulation on 18 March 2021. The front is bluish violet and reproduces the photograph of the group of six historic leaders against a background of mountains; the back is purplish brown and shows a foggara, an ancestral water-mobilisation structure, and the Imedghassen mausoleum northeast of the wilaya of Batna, which the bank says would have been raised between the third and fourth centuries BC (Banque d'Algérie, Héros de la révolution).
Algeria's 2022 commemorative is a paper and polymer sandwich. Under regulations 22-02 and 22-03 of 18 October 2022 the Bank of Algeria put a commemorative 2000 dinar note into circulation from 2 November 2022, marking the thirty first ordinary session of the Arab League summit held in Algiers and the sixtieth anniversary of independence. The note is built from two layers of paper with a layer of polymer between them, and the Hoggar mountains on the back are crossed by a transparent polymer window (Banque d'Algérie, billet commémoratif 2000 DA).
Which Algerian banknotes have been withdrawn?
Two withdrawal operations account for almost every obsolete Algerian note. The first took effect on 31 December 1998 and the second on 31 December 2014, and each opened a ten year window in which the recalled notes could be exchanged at the bank's own branches (Banque d'Algérie, Processus de retrait du billet).
The first operation, under regulation 98-01 of 10 June 1998, recalled the whole 1964 family, together with the 100, 10 and 5 dinar notes issued in 1970 and the 50 dinar note the withdrawal notice dates to 1977. Holders could exchange them without any particular formality for ten years from the date fixed in the regulation, exclusively at the Bank of Algeria branch in each wilaya.
The second operation, under regulation 2013-02 of 19 November 2013, withdrew the 100 dinar notes of 1981 and 1982 and the 200, 20 and 10 dinar notes issued in 1983, again with a ten year exchange period, this time across the bank's 48 branches. The effect is the one our page on currencies that no longer exist describes: a recalled note stops circulating long before it stops existing, and the survivors are the ones somebody put away rather than handed in.
What are old Algerian banknotes worth?
Franc-era notes cost more than dinar-era notes, and within the dinar era the block-number variety matters more than the year. Catalog values in US dollars below are from the PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, read in September 2026, for the Banque de l'Algérie 100 francs and the 1964 issue 100 dinars.
The 100 francs of the 1913 to 1926 issue is listed as P-81a, dated 3 January 1921 and 22 September 1921, at $60 in Very Good 8 and $225 in Very Fine 20, and as P-81b, dated 1 May 1928 to 20 October 1938, at $30 in Very Good 8, $115 in Very Fine 20 and $275 in Uncirculated 60. The 100 dinars of 1964 is listed as P-125a at $35 in Very Fine 20 and $90 in Uncirculated 60, as P-125b at $20 and $80 in the same grades, and as a specimen, P-125s, at $200 in Uncirculated 60.
Two lessons come out of those numbers. A circulated franc note of the 1920s costs several times what a circulated dinar note of 1964 does, and a specimen outruns an issued note in the same grade, the pattern our page on specimen notes explains. Catalog numbers are Pick numbers, covered in our guide to Pick numbers, and what determines banknote value covers the rest. Catalog values are a reference point, not a quote.
How do you start collecting Algerian banknotes?
Collect by series name, because Algeria has done the sorting for you. Each of the five named families has a published date range and theme, so a beginner can pick one chapter and know exactly where it starts and stops.
Three routes work well. The 1964 family of four is the historical set: one year, four denominations, and the Amir Abd el-Kader watermark that the current notes use. History and Heritage is the affordable middle, six notes across 1992 to 1998, with the 1998 pair offering the same designs at higher security. Tradition and Modernity and Heroes of the Revolution are the modern lane, four notes with issue dates precise to the day, closed off by the 2022 commemorative and its hybrid substrate.
Learn the grading ladder before you spend. Grades run from Uncirculated down through AU, XF, VF, F, VG and G, and the certified market uses a 1 to 70 scale: our banknote grading guide explains it, graded versus raw banknotes covers when certification earns its cost, the banknote glossary defines watermarks and specimens, and how to store banknotes matters for large-format franc paper. For wider context, read our France banknotes hub on the other side of the franc, our Egypt banknotes hub for the region, who prints the world's money, portraits on banknotes on how a figure like Emir Abdelkader ends up in a watermark, and wartime occupation and military currency.
Where can you buy Algerian banknotes?
Buy from an established dealer that authenticates every note, documents where it came from, and stands behind it in writing. Prices far below every other seller, vague sourcing and no returns are the signals to walk away from.
Planet Banknote sources notes direct from mints, central banks and authorized distributors rather than reselling anonymous lots. Browse the current selection through the banknotes by country directory, where availability changes with what has been sourced, and see third-party certified pieces in the graded banknotes selection. Our guide to buying world banknotes safely and how to collect world banknotes cover the rest.
Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Algerian dinar created?
In 1964. The Bank of Algeria says the Algerian dinar was created that year by presidential decree and that the Banque centrale d'Algérie put the first series of banknotes into circulation in the same year. The series had four denominations, 5, 10, 50 and 100 dinars, illustrating landscapes of the northern and southern regions of the country.
Who issues Algerian banknotes?
The Bank of Algeria. It was created by law 62-144, voted by the Constituent Assembly on 13 December 1962, under the name Banque Centrale d'Algérie, and the bank's history attaches the designation Banque d'Algérie to ordinance 03-11 of 26 August 2003. The state delegates the privilege of issuing banknotes and coins to it alone.
Who issued Algeria's banknotes before the dinar?
Algeria's pre-independence notes were franc notes issued by the Banque de l'Algérie, which the standard catalog lists as a separate issuer from the Banque Centrale d'Algérie. The Bank of Algeria's own record of its buildings says the head office at 8 boulevard Zighoud Youcef in Algiers was put up during the first decade of the twentieth century to house the Banque de l'Algérie.
Where are Algerian banknotes made?
At the Bank of Algeria's own works. The bank's Direction Générale de l'Hôtel des Monnaies is responsible for producing the banknote denominations and the coin denominations, and also makes honorific medals, the national passport without personalisation, stamps and vignettes, diplomas and cheques. That puts Algeria in the small group of countries whose central bank manufactures its own currency.
Which Algerian banknotes have been withdrawn from circulation?
Two operations cover them. From 31 December 1998, under regulation 98-01 of 10 June 1998, the bank recalled the 100, 50, 10 and 5 dinar notes of 1964, the 100, 10 and 5 dinar notes of 1970 and a 50 dinar note. From 31 December 2014, under regulation 2013-02 of 19 November 2013, it recalled the 100 dinar notes of 1981 and 1982 and the 200, 20 and 10 dinar notes of 1983.
What is on the Algerian 2000 dinar note?
There are three of them. The 2000 dinars of 2011 entered circulation on 28 April 2011 with a theme of science, technology and endogenous development. The 2000 dinars of the Heroes of the Revolution series was launched on 18 March 2021 and shows the photograph of the group of six historic leaders. A commemorative 2000 dinars followed from 2 November 2022, built from two layers of paper around a polymer core.
Are Algerian banknotes worth collecting?
They are, and the field is unusually easy to organise because the central bank names and dates every series itself. The 1964 family of four makes a realistic historical set, the History and Heritage notes of 1992 to 1998 are the affordable middle, and the modern issues carry precise circulation dates. As always, condition, the block-number variety and whether a note is a specimen drive what it brings.