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Not much is known about the elusive and rarely seen Iraqi dinar. Our studies have shown that it is nocturnal, feeds mainly on insects, and lays a brood of… what? Oh, wait, that is the naked mole rat, sorry.

If you live in Michigan, California or Illinois, you are probably either angry or rolling your eyes at that last paragraph. That is because those three states have the highest number of foreign born Iraqi populations. And you folks will know the most about the Iraqi dinar that, is actually quite a mystery to the United States. Up until the Gulf War, it was not even called the Iraqi dinar, it was the Swiss dinar because it is printed using a Swiss printing technology, but it is printed in the United Kingdom. Off to a wacky start with that dinar.

We in the States do not know much about the dinar because the only export that comes from Iraq is oil, and that is traded using dollars, so we have had no exposure nor need to learn about the Iraq currency. Much less a need to buy Iraqi dinar. Because of that, the currency is actually considered of exotic status. Yet, in 2012 everyone should have wanted to buy Iraqi dinar. For most of that year, one United States dollar was valued at a whopping twelve hundred dinars.

Another jump back in time, ten more years, brings us to 2002, when the Central Bank of Iraq actually issued a ten thousand dinar bank note that was to be used for inter bank transactions, and just generally larger currency exchanges. So, in the United States, in 2012, if you wanted to buy iraqi dinar ten thousand bank notes, you would only have to spend eight dollars and thirty four cents for each one!

However, it should be noted that world currency fluctuates on a daily basis. What you pay when you buy Iraqi dinar back in 2002 could be very different compared to what you would pay for it in 2012, to present day 2013. In fact, currency can fluctuate so much that prices can be different from day to day. It can more expensive one day, even cheaper the next, and there is no way to know or even plan ahead, really. And the kicker is that when you buy Iraqi dinar one day, and the price goes down the next day, you can not go back and ask for the difference. The purchase of currency is done at the buyer’s risk, at market value. You would not demand the difference in price with lobster or stocks. You can not do it when you buy Iraqi dinar.