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0.10 Leva Foreign Exchange Certificate
| Issuer | Balkantourist |
|---|---|
| Year | 1975 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Third lev (1962-1999) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Blue letterpress print on cream paper with a fine wavy-line guilloche underprint overall. The denomination '0.10' appears in a central guilloche vignette flanked by the Cyrillic legends ТАЛОН and ЛЕВА in large capitals; two rosette ornaments flank the issuer inscription at top. Two blocks of small Cyrillic text at bottom state terms of use and anti-counterfeiting warnings. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | BALKAN TOURIST |
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| Comments |
Balkantourist was the Bulgarian state tourism monopoly, and these foreign exchange certificates — known locally as "coupons" — formed a parallel currency system designed to capture hard currency from Western visitors while preventing its circulation in the domestic economy. Tourists exchanged foreign cash for these at a mandatory official rate, then used them at Balkantourist hotels, Corecom hard-currency shops, and other state-designated outlets inaccessible to ordinary Bulgarians.
The 0.10 denomination is the smallest in the 1975 series, issued to handle fractional transactions within the coupon system. Heavily used in practice, low-denomination examples in clean condition are harder to find than the higher values.