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.

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.[8][9]

First series (1994)
Image		Value	Technical parameters			Description
Obverse	Reverse		Diameter	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
		10 luma[10]	16 mm	0.6 g	Aluminium	Smooth	Armenian coat of arms	Value, year of minting
		20 luma[11]	18 mm	0.75 g
		50 luma[12]	20 mm	0.95 g
		֏1[13]	22 mm	1.4 g		Reeded
		֏3[14]	24 mm	1.65 g
		֏5[15]	26 mm	2 g		Smooth
		֏10[16]	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).

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[17]	20 mm	1.3 g	Aluminium	Reeded	Armenian coat of arms	Value, ornaments, year of minting
		֏20[18]	20.5 mm	2.75 g	Copper-plated Steel	Smooth
		֏50[19]	21.5 mm	3.45 g	Brass-plated steel	Reeded
		֏100[20]	22.5 mm	4 g	Nickel-plated Steel
		֏200[21]	24 mm	4.5 g	Brass
		֏500[22]	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).

On 22 November 1993, banknotes of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500 drams were issued.[23] 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.

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).[24]
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixel per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

A third series of Armenian dram banknotes were issued in 2017, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Armenia's national currency.[25] 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, and 100,000 dram banknotes for this issue. The new series are printed on hybrid substrates of Louisenthal.[26]

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.

A 500 dram commemorative note was issued on 22 November 2017 to commemorate the story of Noah's Ark.

Third series (2017–present)
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
		֏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.