Medieval Bulgarian coinage

Due to the limited space the inscriptions were abbreviated, often written with a few letters and special signs.

The Bulgarian coins had images different from the Byzantine and Slav coinage, so they form a distinct group.

The uniqueness of Ivan Asen's gold perpera and the peculiarity of its iconography have led a minority of researchers to doubt its authenticity.

[1] Its peculiarity is the double gesture of Saint Demetrius who simultaneously crowns the Emperor and gives him a sword, an image found in no Byzantine or other Slavonic coins.

Theodore Svetoslav (1300–1321) was the first Bulgarian ruler who minted silver coins called aspra (from Greek aspron, meaning "white").