Philately Bulgaria - New Generation

Of the 216-217 there are without perforation on one side, and of the 216 - a pair, without perforation between them. Of the 216 there are also with an inverted overprint, partially or completely without the new nominal value and a pair - one without an overprint. The stamps were issued for the needs of the First Bulgarian National Airline Joint Stock Company "BUNAVAD", which under a contract performed the airmail service in the interior of Bulgaria. According to the contract, the state subsidized the company, and instead of giving it money, it provided it with special stamps for the performance of the service, with which to charge for correspondence carried by air. Of the 50,000 issued series, 40,000 were handed over to "BUNAVAD", and part of the rest were given to the post offices in Sofia, Varna and Ruse exclusively for pasting letters carried by airmail. The letters were affixed with regular stamps according to the tariff and were additionally charged with airplane stamps: for newspapers - 1 leva; for a postcard - 2 leva, for a closed letter and registered letter - 4 leva. The first flight with airplane mail was carried out on the Sofia-Ruse-Varna route on 8.11.1927 and back to Sofia - on 11 s. m. The company sold the unused stamps to stamp traders abroad.