1 Lev

Bulgaria's post-communist monetary reform culminated in the Currency Board arrangement of 1997, which pegged the lev hard to the Deutsche Mark following a catastrophic banking collapse and hyperinflationary spiral that had wiped out savings across the country. The redenominated lev introduced that year — at 1000 old leva to one new — made this bimetallic circulation issue a coin of genuine economic reconstruction rather than routine production.

Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, but euro adoption has been repeatedly delayed. These lev coins continue circulating far longer than originally anticipated.