Bulgaria's transition-era coinage was overhauled following the catastrophic hyperinflation and currency collapse of 1996–97, which forced the introduction of a currency board arrangement and the redenomination of the lev at 1,000:1 in July 1999. The steel-core bronze-plated composition replaced the original brass alloy specifically to reduce production costs on low-denomination coins whose face value had become nearly negligible against metal prices.
The magnetic variant runs parallel to the non-magnetic brass issue under the same KM base number, distinguished only by the steel substrate detectable with a magnet.
Bulgaria's transition-era coinage was overhauled following the catastrophic hyperinflation and currency collapse of 1996–97, which forced the introduction of a currency board arrangement and the redenomination of the lev at 1,000:1 in July 1999. The steel-core bronze-plated composition replaced the original brass alloy specifically to reduce production costs on low-denomination coins whose face value had become nearly negligible against metal prices.
The magnetic variant runs parallel to the non-magnetic brass issue under the same KM base number, distinguished only by the steel substrate detectable with a magnet.