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5000 Leva
| Issuer | Bulgarian National Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5000 Leva |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents the façade of the Bulgarian National Bank building in an architectural intaglio engraving. To the right, a large numeral vignette of "5000" is incorporated into the guilloche border work, while the left portion of the note accommodates the watermark zone. Bilingual legends in Cyrillic and French run along the note, accompanied by a legal warning against counterfeiting. |
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| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The 1938 series was Bulgaria's highest-denomination prewar issue, printed by Giesecke & Devrient in Leipzig at a moment when the Bulgarian economy was becoming increasingly entangled with Nazi Germany through bilateral trade agreements. By 1938, Germany accounted for the majority of Bulgarian exports, and the financial architecture around notes like this one reflected that dependency directly.
Alexander Bozhinov was primarily known as a caricaturist and illustrator — an unusual choice for banknote design work, though Vasil Zahariev, a trained engraver and printmaker, would have carried the technical execution. The pairing was distinctly Bulgarian rather than outsourced to G&D's in-house design staff.