20 Leva - Boris III

Bulgaria's postwar financial constraints showed clearly in this issue: the .500 fineness was a deliberate reduction from the higher-purity silver of prewar Bulgarian coinage, reflecting the kingdom's struggle to stabilize the lev after the devastations of the Second Balkan War and WWI left the country on the losing side of both. Boris III was at this point ruling under significant domestic pressure, having suspended the Tarnovo Constitution in 1934 — though that coup came four years after this coin was struck, when the political situation had deteriorated further.