1 Lev - Ferdinand I

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.