Home
Artistry in Banknotes
Links

A ~ C Countries

Algeria
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Austria-Hungary
Belgian Congo
Belgium
Bohemia
Brazil
Bukovina
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Cameroun
Canada
Canada Charter
Cape Verde
China
Colombia
Comoros
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Cuba
Cyprus
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia P.2
Czech Republic

D ~ G Countries
H ~ M Countries
N ~ S Countries
T ~ Z Countries

Lovelies From Bulgaria

100 Leva 1917

Politically Bulgaria has been something of a paradox in foreign relations. The area that is now Bulgaria had been dominated by the Ottoman Empire for several hundred years when with Russia's assistance the nation attained nominal independence in 1878. For that reason Bulgarians had a strong affinity for Russia, curiously the powers in the Bulgarian monarchy seemed to feel differently during times of conflict - often siding with the Germans as in WWI and in WWII.

Up until WWI Bulgarian notes had been printed by Orlov Printing in St. Petersburg Russia - and bore a striking resemblance to contemporary Tsarist Russian notes. The outbreak of WWI and shifting alliances changed all that, resulting in Bulgarian notes either being printed locally or in Germany as this 100 Leva note had been. It was printed by Giesecke & Devrient in Munich and has some of the best printing technique for the time. I have always liked the vignette of the young rural lady that graces this note, she is very emblematic of Bulgaria, and it's strong agricultural tradition. She is also testament to the fact that women in this region are very attractive.

This note has a wonderfully stylised border that is emblematic of a Celtic knot decour. Bulgaria has a very long history, as Maroneia and later Thrace and certainly the pattern in the border aludes to that early history of the region. This note promises to pay the bearer the sum of 100 Leva in gold coin, a huge sum of money then roughly equivalent to $20 in US currency at the time, but shortly after this note was issued it was rendered nearly valueless as the gold option lapsed and the Lev currency lost much of it's value at the cessation of WWI.

One Leva 1921

Bulgaria had joined the Latin Monetary Union in 1889, in effect unifying it's currency with Romania, France, Italy, Switzerland etc. Unfortunately the devestating effects of WWI rendered the monetary union obsolete, and currencies once again floated, and lost value quickly. The Bulgarian Leva currency depreciated rapidly, and what had been a silver coin was now reduced to being a small change note that was printed by Waterlow and Sons in London in 1921. This particular note possesses several fascinating aspects, it is printed in old Cyrillic, and the spelling conventions of several of the words on this note have changed since that time. Many of the silent characters have since been eliminated from the Cyrillic alphabet. The reverse of the note displays the printers imprint, but curiously instead of London, uses the French rendering of the name, Londres. This is a reflection of the usage of French in Bulgaria as the international language, even notes printed into the early Communist era in Bulgaria bore French language reverses.

500 Leva 1942

This is one of those notes that you collect that when you get into researching it, you find out that it tells a much bigger story than you would have ever imagined. Indeed, much of what is found on this note is tragic, historical, but in the end quite surprising. The front of the note has a portrait of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. Curiously during the early 1940's Bulgaria and Romania found themselves allied with Germany and Italy in their crusade to conquer Europe and enslave the populations of overrun countries. However, in both Bulgaria and Romania, the Germans found reluctant, and even downright defiant allies. Traditionally Bulgaria has always had much stronger alliances with Russia, in fact Russia contributed to Bulgarian independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878. The brief interwar years betwixt the end of the First World War and the change of government in Russia changed all that. Bulgaria found itself isolated from it's traditional ally, Russia when the USSR was formed in 1922 and the new Soviet government initiated a campaign of social and political revolution in it's neighbouring or nearby countries. With the opening of WWII Bulgaria found herself somewhat ambiguously allied with Germany.

Indeed this alliance seems to have benefited only the German Reich, and Bulgaria more or less found itself as an unwilling partner in a campaign they really did not have the heart to be in at all. One area where Bulgaria stood it's ground was that despite entering the war against the USA and Great Britain symbolically, it refused to initiate a campaign against the USSR, because of strong pro-Russian sentiment against such a war. Tsar Boris III is believed to have also prohibited the extradition some 50.000 Bulgarians of Jewish descent. He is conjectured to have opined that they were Bulgarian first, and Jewish second, therefore they were protected as Bulgarian citizens and not subject to the whims of the German Reich.

Boris III died unexpectedly on 28 August 1943, only two and a half weeks after an incredibly stormy meeting with Adolf Hitler at Rastenberg in E. Prussia. It had long been suspected that his untimely demise had more to do with his falling out with Hitler than any health issue, but when his remains were autopsied in the 1990's it was determined that he, did in fact, die of a heart defect.

The vignette of a young woman on the reverse is my primary fascination with this note, she is determinately, a typical rural young lady, with her fascinating necklace of coins!. What I find most fascinating is that this young lady on this note is not some unknown feminine vignette just created out of nowhere, she is a real person by the name of Evdokia Kovacheva. She lived long after this note was created, and was still autographing the notes occasionally in the 1980's!

Twenty Leva 2005 Commemorative 125th Anniversary of National Bank of Bulgaria

Bulgaria gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 after a protracted struggle for self determination. Bulgaria was largely influenced by the nearby Russian Empire, and indeed for quite sometime it's paper money was remarkably similar to the Russian and then later USSR banknotes. The Bulgarian Lev had been re-denominated four times during the 20th century, most recently in 1999, when the old Lev was called in and exchanged at a rate of 1000 : 1. The new Lev was pegged to the German Mark, and has remained within a very narrow band ever since 1999. Bulgaria has entered the EU, and hopes to introduce the Euro beginning in 2012. When the currency was redenominated in 1999, a whole new series of banknotes was printed, and new lovely designs, drawing on historical themes, coupled with modern anti-counterfieting measures were released.

This 20 Leva note was released in 2005, it is in effect a commemorative note, for the 125th anniversary of the Bulgarian National Bank. Previously Bulgaria had issued paper money with females in the 1951 issue, but I believe they did not want the world to know what is really going on with Bulgarian ladies. Now seemingly they do. For the first time, they depict a woman on their banknote that is representative of what many Bulgarian women look like, attractive and stylish, her vignette is actually from an earlier Bulgarian banknote issued in 1905.

Top of page