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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Medieval & Modern Coins| ▸ |Bulgaria||View Options:   | | | Bulgaria is a Balkan nation with diverse terrain encompassing Black Sea coastline, a mountainous interior and rivers, including the Danube. A cultural melting pot with Greek, Slavic, Ottoman, and Persian influences, it has a rich heritage of traditional dance, music, costumes, and crafts. At the foot of domed Vitosha mountain is its capital city, Sofia, dating to the 5th century B.C. |
This imitative was most likely struck by an unofficial mint in unruly Byzantine Bulgaria. In 1018, the Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered the First Bulgarian Empire. The Bulgarian aristocracy were given Byzantine titles and moved to Asia. The existing tax system, laws, and the role of low-ranking nobility remained, at first, unchanged. As the Byzantine Empire declined under Basil's successors, Pecheneg invasions and rising taxes led to discontent and major uprisings. Bulgaria remained under Byzantine rule until the brothers Asen and Peter liberated the country in 1185, establishing the Second Bulgarian Empire.CR111244. Bronze anonymous follis, See Lampinen Imitative, p. 54, for a similar Class A imitative; prototype: Basil II & Constantine VIII, 1023-1028, SBCV 1818, aVF, green patina, light earthen deposits, off center, weight 7.969 g, maximum diameter 26.3 mm, die axis 0o, unofficial (Bulgarian?) mint, c. 1023 - 1040 A.D.; obverse facing nimbate bust of Christ, pallium and colobium, Gospels in both hands, no legend or inscription; reverse retrograde Greek inscription: + IhSuS / XRISTuS / bASILEu / bASILE (Greek: Jesus Christ King of Kings); ex Morton & Eden auction 119 (6 Dec 2022), lot 333 (part of); $180.00 (€169.20)
Bulgaria, First Empire, Peter I, 927 - 969 A.D., Lead Bulla Seal
This seal was reportedly found together with a hoard of Romanus I, Constantine II and Romanus II solidi, some of which are now available for sale in our Byzantine Gold section. The seal may have once tied a leather bag containing the coins; perhaps a Bulgarian imperial payment.
Peter was the son of Simeon the Great 893 - 927, architect of the Golden Age for the Bulgarian Empire. In 927 the Bulgarians and the Byzantines signed apeace treaty which recognized Peter's Imperial title, the borders and the Bulgarian Patriarchate. In addition, Peter married Maria Lecapene, renamed Eirene (Peace) for the event.
An inferior example (with a finder's cut defacing Peter) was estimated $1000 and sold for $650 plus fees in Triton XI, 2008.SH33751. Lead bulla (tag seal), gVF, weight 18.524 g, maximum diameter 22.8 mm, die axis 0o, obverse + IhSuS XPI[...]+, facing bust of Christ, holding book of Gospels in left hand, cross behind head; reverse blundered legend naming Peter, facing busts of Peter, wearing chlamys, and his wife, Eirine (Maria) Lecapene, wearing loros, both crowned, holding patriarchal cross between them; well formed seal, nice round thick flan, attractive buff-grey patina; SOLD
Bulgaria, Second Empire, Ivan Alexander and Mikhail Asen, 1331 - 1355 A.D.
Ivan Alexander met Byzantine and Serbian threats, and led economic recovery and a cultural renaissance. But later he was overwhelmed by Ottoman and Hungarian invasions, and the Black Death. In an ill-fated effort to combat these problems, he divided the country between his two sons. Bulgaria would face the imminent Ottoman conquest weakened and divided.BZ93562. Silver half grosch, Radushev-Zhekov 1.13.6 (R7), cf. Dimnik-Dobrinic 9.1.2 (grosch), EF, slight double strike on reverse, edge a little ragged, weight 0.700 g, maximum diameter 17.9 mm, die axis 180o, Veliko Turnovo mint, 1331 - 1355 A.D.; obverse Christ standing facing in front of throne, nimbate, both hands raised in benediction, IC - XC (Greek abbreviation: IΗΣOúΣ XPIΣTOΣ - Jesus Christ) flanking nimbus, Alexander - Tsar monograms left and right below arms; reverse Ivan (on left) and Mikhail, his son, standing facing, each wears a stemma and holds cross scepter, both hold a staff between them topped with a banner, two stars lower inner fields, Alexander Tsar monograms left, pious Michael monograms right; from the Errett Bishop Collection, zero sales of this very rare HALF grosch type listed on Coin Archives in the last two decades; very rare; SOLD
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