1000 Leva Zlatni Not issued

Bulgaria's postwar finances in 1921 were dire enough that the National Bank commissioned this high-denomination note from Giesecke & Devrient in Leipzig — yet it was never released. The precise reason remains undocumented, though the early 1920s saw repeated legislative battles over currency stabilization and the lev's relationship to gold, which likely overtook whatever monetary plan the note was prepared to serve.

Unissued G&D material from this period tends to survive in better condition than circulated Bulgarian paper of the era, since wartime and postwar lev notes suffered badly from heavy use and poor storage. The "Zlatni" designation — gold leva — points to an unrealized attempt at commodity-backed valuation.