From modern Macedonia comes this special pair of unseparated 10 Denara banknotes. The banknote features a magnificent Mosaic of a peacock and duck and the obverse depicts the torso of the Goddess Isida and the bust of Alexander the Great*. Each of these multicolored notes boasts several interesting security devices, including; a dashed lines with the initials of the Central Bank of Macedonia and random flecked hologram dots

*The region of Macedonia occupies parts of what were the Greek province of Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Bulgaria.

After 3000 BC, a Greek-speaking tribe settled in the region. King Philip II, who ruled from 359 to 336 BC, conquered the Greeks and created a Macedonian empire. Philip's son, Alexander the Great, took command following Philip's assassination and created a vast empire that stretched into Egypt and across Persia to northwestern India. Alexander died in 323 BC, and the vacuum created by his death led to the dissolution of the empire. In 148 BC Macedonia became a Roman province, and in AD 395 it became part of the Byzantine Empire. Slavic peoples settled in Macedoniain the 6th century, and the region was later occupied by Goths, Huns, Slavs, Bulgars, and Turks.

The Ottoman Empire ruled the region from 1371 to 1912, until the Balkan Wars ( 1912 - 1913 ) divided the region among Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia. In 1913, the area was incorporated into Serbia, which in 1918 became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes( later Yugoslavia ). In 1946, Macedonia became a constituent republic of Yugoslavia.

Macedonia declared its independence September 8, 1991, and was admitted to the UN in 1993. A UN force, which included several hundred U.S. troops, was deployed there to deter the warring factions in Bosnia from carrying their dispute into other areas of the Balkans.

In February of 1994 both Russia and the U.S. recognized Macedonia. Greece, which objected to Macedonia's use of what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols, imposed a trade blockade on the landlocked nation; the 2 countries agreed to normalize relations September 13, 1995.