Bulgarian Stamps and History

- The Stamps and History of Bulgaria -
1879 - 1946

Bulgaria issued their first stamps in 1879. The first series of 5 stamps were printed in Russia. These stamps are the only Bulgarian issues with values in Centimes and Franc. From no. 6 (1881) is the value of 100 Stotinki = 1 Lew (lion) used.

- A philatelic journey through the history of Bulgaria -

Bulgaria has a very dramatic history that is often theme for their stamp issues. Based on historic information from my stamp album combined with scanned pictures of selected stamps from my own collection, I have made "A philatelic journey through the history of Bulgaria". This journey will give you a brief summary of the most important aspects of Bulgarian history up to 1946, illustrated with stamps and maps. The "journey" consists of 7 chronological chapters plus one additional chapter that presents important persons for the history of Bulgaria.

Enjoy your journey!

1. The First Kingdom	2. The Second Kingdom	3. The struggle for independence
4. The Principality of Bulgaria	5. International crises	6. The Inter-War Period
7. Bulgaria in the 2nd World War		8. Famous Bulgarians

You will also find a detailed presentation of the themes 3-7 in my 80-page exhibit Bulgaria 1878-1946: National liberation and human tragedies!

- Bulgarian covers and cancels -

In this section you will find miscellaneous material about Bulgarian philately...

Bulgarian propaganda cancels	Balkan postcards Bulgaria \| Turkey	The Bulgarian Star Cancels
The 1919 Neuilly Peace Conference	1901 Plate Errors	1902 Plate Errors
The long road home	The Norwegian connection	Bulgarian "T" covers
A letter of need	The mysterious parcel receipt	The Bulgarian Sunday Stamps
	Bulgarian inflation cover

What is the connection between Bulgaria and the Norwegian viking king Harald Hardrada?	Why is King Wladislav 3 of Poland buried in Bulgaria?
The flag of the Bulgarian freedom fighters	Why do stamp catalogs like Michel and Scott denote Bulgarian rulers as "Tsar"?