Bulgarian Revenue Or Charity Stamp?

Dear Stamp Community Family

I have here a stamp that is probably bulgarian. The name PYCE could be the cyrillic name of the city of Ruse in the northern part of Bulgaria. But the currency 5 para does not fit. Para was the currency of the Ottoman empire (as well for Montenegro, Serbia etc). It seems it could be a municipal revenue or maybe a charity stamp.

I hope someone can help me to identfy this stamp.

Thanks in advance.

Best regards from Switzerland

André

Are you sure that's the abbreviation for "para" and not "lev"?

Robert

Hi Zuerich4,

Yes, this is a municipal revenue from the city of Ruse.

There was also a 2 leva black and yellow stamp in the same design.

Nicely solved Nigel.
I couldn't crack it.
Image saved to my Bulgaria collection.

Thanks Rod.

For this I used Barefoot's "Bulgaria and Romania Revenues".

Dear nigelc

Thanks for your answer. Robert (Trainwreck) asks a good question: Am I right with the abbreviation for currency Para? Then the stamp would be from the Ottoman period in Bulgaria. But the design of the stamp looks newer to me. Does Barefoot's "Bulgaria and Romania Revenues" mention a date of issue? And maybe a translation of the inscription?

Thanks for your help.

Best regards from Switzerland

André

Hi Zuerich4,

I don't know why you think the value is in para.

The value is given as the two Cyrillic letters equivalent to "LV", short for "leva".

The catalogue describes these stamps as "Merchandise Protection Tax" and gives a date of c.1925.

I am not long back from a great holiday in the beautiful Berner Oberland so best regards to Switzerland!

I wonder if you are thinking of the Greek letters corresponding to "PA" as an abbreviation of "para"?

Here the Cyrillic L looks rather like a Greek pi, and the Cyrillic V (B) could be confused with a Greek alpha (A).