Bulgaria 1988 20 leva KM-174

Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale, lot 73261

This specimen was lot 73261 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2022), where it sold for $168. The catalog description^[1] noted, "BULGARIA. 20 Leva, 1988. Sofia Mint. PCGS PROOF-69 Deep Cameo. Commemorating the 2nd Soviet-Bulgarian Space Flight. Nearly flawless, with hard mirrored fields and frosted devices." The silver commemoratives issued by the regime shrank as inflation bit even tho these were never intended to circulate. Other twenty leva for 1988 included KM 171 (railways), KM 172 (liberation) and KM 173 (Sophia University). The regime was swept away in 1989-90.

Recorded mintage: 100,000 proofs.

Specification: 11.19 g, 0.500 fine silver.

Catalog reference: KM-174.

Source:

• ^[1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The February 2022 World Collectors Choice Online Auction - Ancients & World Coins, Featuring Selections from the Kings Norton Mint Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.

Link to:

• 1984 10 leva, Summer Olympic Games, women's gymnastics
• 1984 10 leva, United Nations International Decade for Women
• 1984 100 leva, United Nations International Decade for Women
• 1988 stotinka
• 1988 50 stotinki
• 1988 20 leva, 100th anniversary of Bulgarian State Railways
• 1989 20 leva, 120th anniversary of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• 1989 25 leva, Brown Bear and Cubs
• Coins and currency dated 1988