May 1, 1879 - the birth date of the first Bulgarian postage stamp

On May 1, 1879, the first Bulgarian postage stamps, called "centimes" at that time, were put into circulation. Their nominal value was 5 centimes, as there was no Bulgarian monetary unit. They depicted a lion with a crown as a symbol of the bravery and struggle of the Bulgarian people for liberation.

These first copies were ordered by Knyaz Vladimir Aleksandrovich Cherkassky, who at that time was the first head of the provisional Russian Administration in Bulgaria. The stamps were printed by the Russian State Printing House in St. Petersburg.