Tag: Bulgaria stamp

With stamps there is often a reason to remind of something long ago. In 1942 Bulgaria was trying to get away from it’s alliance with Germany that was seeing Sophia bombed and allies fighting fellow Slavs in Russia. A good time to remember 800 AD Bulgar Khan Tervel who did great favors for Byzantium only to have them turn on them. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stone carving on the stamp dates from 800AD. There are debates whether it is in the Hellenic or Persian style but most believe it depicts Bulgarian Khan Tervel. The carving still exists. There is no doubt the stamp depicting the carving was in the Slavic style.

Todays stamp is issue A219, a 30 Slotinki stamp issued by Bulgaria on October 21 1942. It was a 14 stamp issue in various denominations that depicted glorious events from the past. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Bulgaria was in a delicate position in World War II. They were forced to sign an alliance with Germany under threat of invasion. This gave them an immediate benefit of land lost years before in the Balkan wars. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/08/05/bulgaria-1913-that-brief-moment-when-the-balkan-wars-looked-good-for-bulgaria/   . However Germany then canceled the non aggression pact with Stalin and invaded fellow Slavic nation Russia. Bulgaria refused to send troops to fight with the Germans complaining of threats from Turkey. They were lucky they didn’t. The Romanian and Hungarian armies paid a terrible price for going along. Bulgaria paid a price as well. Britain and the USA began bombing and the Soviets attacked Bulgarian shipping in the Black Sea. When Romania changed sides in 1944, Bulgaria tried for neutrality and indeed had never declared war on the Soviets. The Soviets still invaded and the Bulgarian army was ordered not to resist. Bulgaria’s child Czar Simeon II was sent into exile and Prime Minister Dobri Bozhilov had a show trial and was executed in 1945. The Bulgarian Supreme Court vacated the Death Sentence, but not till 1996 when it was a little late. The Soviets did not treat the now in power Bulgarian communists much better, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/04/bulgaria-1950-now-that-he-is-dead-we-can-forgive-kolarov-his-passivity/ .

Tervel was the Khan,(ruler of the horde), of Bulgaria from around 700 AD to 720. It is believed that he was the first Bulgar leader to be Christened  in the Orthadox Christian Church. When Byzantine Emperor Justinian was deposed and in exile, he came to Tervel and got the use of Bulgar horsemen soldiers to attack Constantinople and return to power. Justinian then gave Bulgaria some territory in Thrace and the title of Ceaser to Tervel. Tervel was the only foreigner to receive that Byzantine title. The honeymoon, as with the Germans, did not last and soon Byzantium was attacking Bulgaria to get the given land back. Byzantium was defeated in this effort at the Battle of Anchialus in 708.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the mountainside stone carver. Statues come and go, but mountainside stone carvings just go on and on. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

On his deathbed, after stabbed by the Czar’s assassins, a former prime minister exclaims, “The people will forgive me everything, except bringing him here.” So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I must say I am fond of the visuals of todays stamp. A German descended King takes on the regalia of a Russian Czar to try to fit in a new Balkan country. You just know there will be pointless wars and plots and personal decadence, when you dig in.

The stamp today is issue A23, a 5 Stotinki stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bulgaria on February 14th, 1911. The stamp displays Czar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. It was part of a 12 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Bulgaria emerged as a kingdom from the falling back Ottoman Empire. A Germanic royal was picked to lessen the influence of Russia in the area. The Bulgarian people were Slavic and Orthodox Christian. Ferdinand I was Catholic. Stefan Stambolov, was appointed the young King’s regent and government minister. The Russians had attempted a coup on the previous King and Stambolov wanted to limit Russian interference.

Czar Ferdinand had an ambition to create a new Byzantium ruled by him that would consolidate gains at the expense of the retreating Ottomans. However, he was in the Balkans and was not able to keep a united front with Serbia and Greece. Through Macedonians he attacked his former allies and though successful in expanding and economically developing Bulgaria, his crusade for a new Byzantium was not to be.

He was also quarrelling with his former Regent and now Prime Minister Stambolov. Stambolov resigned after an assassination attempt and got his revenge by telling a German newspaper about Ferdinand’s lifestyle. The married King was bisexual, having affairs with numerous commoner women who he fathered illegitimate heirs whom he supported financially. As he got older he interest turned to men and chased after many valets and young army officers. He also made frequent trips to the island of Capri in Italy. Capri at the time was a notorious destination for gay trysts. Ferdinand survived the scandal but eventually had to abdicate after choosing wrong in World War I. The Czar’s lifestyle wasn’t all controversial, he was also a noted botanist and yes, philatelist.

Stambolov had to pay for his disloyalty. Despite wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying a gun in retirement, Stambolov was attacked and stabbed in the face, killing him. Czar Ferdinand is believed behind the plot. Stambolov is considered the father of modern Bulgaria.

After the King abdicated in 1918, he moved to Germany and lived in fine style for another 30 years. Below are his thoughts later in life. “Kings in exile are more philosophic under reverses than ordinary individuals; but our philosophy is primarily the result of tradition and breeding, and do not forget that pride is an important item in the making of a monarch. We are disciplined from the day of our birth and taught the avoidance of all outward signs of emotion. The skeleton sits forever with us at the feast. It may mean murder, it may mean abdication, but it serves always to remind us of the unexpected. Therefore we are prepared and nothing comes in the nature of a catastrophe. The main thing in life is to support any condition of bodily or spiritual exile with dignity. If one sups with sorrow, one need not invite the world to see you eat.”

Well my drink is empty and I think I will refrain from making any judgements about the Czar, too dangerous. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

This is one I like. Here was a small poor country that was constantly fighting it’s neighbors and yet through all that an artist arises that is both part of some of the big international movements going on without losing his sense of where he came from and the simple beauty all around if you take time to look. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I have been doing a lot of these 1960s and up art stamps lately where improvements in printing finally allow an art image to be appreciated on a stamp. I think it becomes more meaningful when the art is from the country issuing the stamp. A stamp is a way for a country to present itself to the wider world and where the collector can spot both what we have in common and also where a country like Bulgaria maybe does some things a little differently. The Bulgarian peasant maiden girl is presented a little differently here then a French Fauvist artist would have presented a French one.

Todays stamp is issue A1079, a 30 Stotinki stamp issued by Bulgaria on March 8th, 1982. It was a six stamp and one souvenir sheet issue remembering the birth century of artist Vladimir Dimitrov. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

As the stamp reminds, Dimitrov was born in 1882 in a small town in western Bulgaria. As a young adult, he was working as a clerk in Sophia when he decided to enroll in drawing classes. Though he at first was drawing in realistic style it was obvious to the art community what a talent had been discovered. He was employed by the government as an official war artist both for the Balkan wars and World War I. Post war he was able to travel throughout Europe exposing himself to the new Fauvist style coming out of France that emphasized bright colors and less comitment to realism. He also made contacts through which he was able to sell many of his paintings for a lot of money.

Here is where the story changes from what you might expect. Dimitrov by his nature was a hippy. He gave away vast amounts of the money he was making and returned to his home village to live almost as a chaste monk and paint Fauvist landscapes. He didn’t shave or cut his hair, did not smoke or drink, and practiced veganism.

Dimitrov was a follower of the Tolstoyan movement named after Russian author Leo Tolstoy. They didn’t believe in participating in any government or church as they were considered hopelessly corrupt. They were also pacifists that followed the simple teachings of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. The movement saw several communes pop up around the world that did not do well. The rich, educated, followers may have desired to get back to nature, but had no skills in agriculture.

The change to a communist government in Bulgaria in 1946 made Dimitrov back away  from some of his idealism. He even went so far as to join the communist party and recast one of his most famous earlier paintings of Madonna as a girl from the village of Shishkovzi. His accommodation allowed the regime to celebrate Bulgaria’s most famous artist in his last years.

Well my drink is empty and Dimitrov would not want me to have another. Come again on Monday when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

Generally I prefer stamps that look to a bright future to the more common stamp that reminisces. This is a really weird one that celebrates what is gone. Perhaps in the belief remembering will stir hope. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This Bulgarian issue of stamps was designed and printed in 1915 to celebrate the taking of the territory of Macedonia from Serbia while Bulgaria was an ally of Austria and Ottoman Turkey. The victory did not hold and Bulgaria ended up surrendering Macedonia and more and Austrian born Czar Ferdinand was forced to abdicate. This was all in the past when these stamps finally got into postal use in 1920.

Todays stamp is issue A54, a 10 Stotinki stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1920. It was a five stamp issue all in the same denomination. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. You would think a stamp displaying such interesting twists of history would have gained more value by the time the stamp was 100 years old but it must be remembered how much the stamp printing presses work overtime when a country is broke and defeated in order to raise a little money from the stamp collector.

First modern Czar Ferdinand ruled at a time when Bulgaria was transitioning from a Principality under the Ottomans to a Kingdom with autonomy. There were shifting alliances and frequent wars and Bulgaria not only gained territory in Macedonia but a land outlet to the Aegean at the expense of Greece and territory from Romania. That sounds like a lot of glory but the Czar was a flamboyant bisexual figure prone to dressing in drag. As such, both allies and enemies despised him. Here is how a British historian from the period described him.

“In this war, where the ranks of the enemy present to us so many formidable, sinister, and shocking figures, there is one, and perhaps but one, which is purely ridiculous. If we had the heart to relieve our strained feelings by laughter, it would be at the gross Coburg traitor, with his bodyguard of assassins and his hidden coat-of-mail, his shaking hands and his painted face. The world has never seen a meaner scoundrel, and we may almost bring ourselves to pity the Kaiser, whom circumstances have forced to accept on equal terms a potentate so verminous.”

The Balkan nations often picked their Kings/Czars from out of work Germans from former German city states in hope of competence and being taken seriously in European corridors of power. Even having done so, the Bulgars were still facing chauvinism like the above. On the other hand, I wish I could write like that.

When the tide turned Bulgaria lost the territory and Ferdinand was forced to abdicate and return to Germany. His son now named Boris and raised Orthadox was on the Throne with dreams of bringing Bulgaria back to it’s recent glories. Probably why this issue of stamps exists.

Well my drink is empty and should I pour another to toast the cross dresser on the wrong side that ultimately lost big time. Of course, why not, it is a hundred years later. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

One can forget what an Internationale movement the early Communists were. There were conventions, factions and debates. Then in the 20s there was Stalin and he regarded all that with suspicion as he was the world leader of the movement, and therefore deserved personal loyalty. Kolorov was able to age out but shows what was happening. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The wave of communist exiles that returned home had been abroad for decades. They were also quite old. and by 1950 such leaders had passed. This allowed Stalin to put in his own people. No reason however not to give Kolarov a nice sendoff. On this issue of two stamps, the lower denomination writes the country name in the local language while this stamp has Bulgaria written in Latin letters. Already in 1950 a nod to the international collector that would soon be so important to Eastern European communist era issues.

Todays stamp is issue A377, a 20 Lev stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Bulgaria on March 6th, 1950. The two stamp issue had quickly been put together after caretaker Prime Minister Vasil Kolarov had died in January. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 70 cents, whether mint or canceled to order as here.

Vasil Kolarov was born in Bulgaria in 1877 when the area was still part of the Ottoman Empire. He was the son of a shoemaker. In 1897 he joined the Tesniak wing of the local Communist movement. He was then given the opportunity to study law in France and make connection with the various communist movements. At the time it was thought that a communist takeover of the Balkans would involve a federation of Slavic countries that would itself sub serve itself to a communist Russia.

After being defeated in World War I a new King appointed leftist Aleksandar Stamboliski as Prime Minister. He was from the rival leftist Agrarian Party. Bulgaria was much shrunken and was faced with a huge war reparations bill. As Stamboliski worked through it, he angered Bulgarians on the right for kowtowing to the new reality. In 1923, the Right lead a coup that saw the King appoint a new right wing Prime Minister. Stamboliski tried to fight the coup but had no help from the rival Tesniak communists like Kolarov. He was captured, tortured, blinded, had the arm he signed peace treaties with cut off and had his head removed as a trophy. This greatly angered Stalin, who was on good terms with Stamboliski. His anger was mainly directed at those communists of the Internationale that were passive through the struggle as Stamboliski was of the other party. Another issue for Stalin was that he now opposed a wider Balkan Slavic Soviet federation. as he thought it would be too powerful for the Soviets to easily control. Realizing the danger of angering Stalin, the Communists like Kolarov started a separate uprising later in 1923. This was quickly defeated and sent Bulgarian communist leaders into exile where they perhaps wanted to be. The Communist International took care of them.

In 1944, Bulgaria switched sides and welcomed in the Red Army as the Germans retreated. With them came the exiled Bulgarian Communists like Kolorov. He accepted the abdication of Bulgaria’s last King and became a figure head President of the new People’s Republic. These were the old passive guys from 1923 and Stalin was not pleased. They still harbored ideas of a Balkan federation and were too close to Marshal Tito in Yugoslavia. New Prime Minister  Dimitrov was some believed poisoned in Moscow and there was a show trial and execution of the deputy Prime Minister. Kolarov stepped in as caretaker Prime Minister but perhaps lucky for him he died of natural causes a few months later allowing Stalin to put in his people. No longer a threat, Kolarov was given a hero’s funeral and his hometown was even renamed for him. This enthusiasm was short lived, by 1965 the town had reverted to it’s previous name.

Well my drink is empty and I will stay out of Bulgarian politics. I am sure someone would find me too passive. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Bulgaria emerged from World War I shrunken and defeated. It was time for the new King to set things right and he definitely tried until he was poisoned. Yes another German Royal in the Balkans tale. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I like the aesthetics of todays stamp. A beautiful city up in the mountains. Perhaps somewhat idealized but so be it. When we study the history of the Balkans it always seems to involve a bunch of hot heads scheming for power. Well there was a lot of that but there were always also hearty people and great scenery.

Todays stamp is issue A58, a 10 Stotinki stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bulgaria  in 1921. The stamp shows a view of Sophia the capital and was part of a thirteen stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

King Boris III took the throne after his father King Ferdinand was forced to abdicate. Bulgaria had listened to it’s German King and sided with Germany against it’s more natural relationship with Russia. The result had been the loss of land to both Romania and Greece and a large bill for reparations. Naturally by the time this happened there was a large socialist movement in Bulgaria supported by Russia that called for the end of the failed monarchy.

His German father had prepared him well to fight for the monarchy. Notice his name was actually Bulgarian and he was baptized Orthodox, causing his father to be excommunicated by the Catholic church. He also had much military training, becoming a Major General,, no not a modern one, by age 24. Both Socialists and conservatives had turns in power with little effect but a left wing coup then banned political parties and tried to leave Czar Boris as a figurehead. This was a big mistake as he then lead a counter coup that kept the ban on political parties and left Boris completely in charge. This did make the country more stable.

His power base stabilized, Boris then set out to reclaim lost lands. He entered into an alliance with Nazi Germany that allowed Bulgaria to reclaim lost land from Romania and later Germany conquered the land given to Greece and allowed Bulgaria to administer it. After doing this he marketed himself successfully as the Bulgarian uniter. He tried to keep his distance from Germany by refusing to send Bulgarian troops to fight with the Germans in Russia and refusing to deport Jews to the death camps. He claimed the troops were needed at home in case of Turkish aggression and the Jews were needed for vital slave labor construction projects. This was a dangerous pose to take and in 1943 Boris was summoned to Hitler where he was berated and most think poisoned, dying a month later.

His child son Simeon then took the throne under a regency. A socialist prime minister was appointed as part of a change in sides but Czar Simeon was deposed in 1946 as Bulgaria became a socialist republic. Simeon is still alive and as such as several notable lasts. He is the only person alive to have held the title of Czar and also the only World War II head of state still alive. He went into exile in Egypt and later Spain  but returned to Bulgaria in the 90s and even served as Prime Minister in the early 2000s. He recently disclaimed the head of his old German Royal house of Saxe- Coburg and Gotha-Kohary. He still claims his Bulgarian title.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of when central economic planning forgets who they are planning for.

The stamp today is from Bulgaria. I have to give credit to the stamp designer. In their wisdom, the government wanted to show off new industry. But how do you make a few new chemical and power plants look like an achievement instead of an environmental hazard. Answer, don’t show the plants at all but rather show the new looking apartment buildings to house the workers. Good job in saving the leadership from itself. There was a shortage of urban apartments and people moving to the cities.

This is issue A887, a 10 stotinki stamp issued by Bulgaria on April 7th, 1976. It is part of a 5 stamp issue celebrating the accomplishments industrially of the most recent five year economic plan. This stamp shows a residential complex attached to a new chemical plant. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

This is probably one of the last, 1976, issues of 5 year plan stamp that was a staple of socialist and third world stamps twenty years before. The stamps made a lot of sense in the early years of a new government. After all, at there most basic, they preached hope and change. People were poor and had suffered though turmoil but smart people are now in charge and they are working for you to make things better. This was well expressed by the Albania cigarette factory stamp I wrote about a few weeks ago. https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/09/communism-provides-smokes-for-atheists-and-then-a-refugee-camp-for-muslims/. Cheap readily available cigarettes will make life easier, and the giant factory on the stamp looks ready to start churning them out. But chemical plants? who drew up this plan and why?

By 1976, Bulgaria was being run by Todor Zhivkov, who had been in office for over twenty years. He had placed his children in prominent places and there was a cabal of aging ex partisan fighters that retained special privileges. It almost seems that they are who this stamp and the five year plan was aimed at impressing. After all they would be sophisticated enough to understand the importance and value of new chemical plants. I bet more than a few of us can think of politicians that got off course this way.

There was some real progress in 1970s Bulgaria. People were living longer and being better educated. They were more likely to have TV and refrigerators and even cars. No stamps about that though. Just who are the people in this peoples republic?

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. How are these long ruling leaders viewed today. There was stability missing before and since. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.