Catalog
1 Lev - Ferdinand I
| Issuer | Bulgaria |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912-1916 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed effigy of Tsar Ferdinand I facing left, with a prominent beard and moustache, rendered in high relief in a naturalistic academic style. The Cyrillic legend ФЕРДИНАНДЪ I is inscribed along the upper left rim and ЦАРЬ НА БЪЛГАРИТѢ along the upper right rim, together encircling the portrait. The engraver's signature R. MARSCHALL appears in small letters in the lower field below the truncation. A fine beaded border frames the entire design. |
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| Mintage | 1912 - Minted in Kremnitz - 2,000,000 1913 - Minted in Vienna and Kremnitz - 3,500,000 1916 - Most melted down; counterfeits common; Minted in Vienna and Kremnitz - 4,569,000 |
| Additional information |
Bulgaria entered the First Balkan War in October 1912, and this issue spans the entirety of that conflict and the catastrophic Second Balkan War that followed, plus the opening years of World War I. The Sofia mint was under considerable institutional pressure throughout, balancing military expenditure against a silver supply that grew increasingly strained as wartime hoarding took hold. Ferdinand I had declared full independence from Ottoman suzerainty only in 1908, making this a relatively young monetary authority navigating back-to-back wars within four years of that declaration.
The .835 fineness matches the Latin Monetary Union standard Bulgaria had aligned with, though the country was never a formal member.