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1000 Leva Zlatni
| Issuer | Bulgarian National Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green guilloche underprint covers the entire face, with elaborate foliate and interlaced ornamental borders framing the central text panel. The bank title БЪЛГАРСКАТА НАРОДНА БАНКА arches across the upper portion in bold Cyrillic letterpress, flanked by circular denomination medallions bearing '1000' at left and right. A circular red official seal of the Bulgarian National Bank is applied at lower left, with the date Sofia 10 май 1916 and two manuscript signatures — Управитель and Касснер — appearing below the large denomination inscription ХИЛЯДА ЛЕВА ЗЛАТНИ. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Cross pattern watermark visible throughout the paper |
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| Comments |
Bulgaria entered the First World War in October 1915 on the side of the Central Powers, and the financial strain showed quickly. The 1000 Leva Zlatni — "golden leva" — was nominally tied to a gold standard that Bulgaria could not meaningfully maintain by 1916. The denomination was enormous by domestic standards, intended for large institutional transactions rather than retail use, and the wartime inflationary pressure that would eventually detach the leva entirely from any metallic basis was already building.
Printed domestically at the Sofia State Printing House rather than contracted abroad, as many Balkan issues of the period were. The watermark remains the sole mechanical security feature — modest for a note of this face value, but consistent with wartime production constraints.