Bulgarian Awards Rarity And Value.

[CtahhR]

The place where you have the best chance to get the higher end awards at melt value is in Sofia, when the government let a batch out. When the high end awards flood out most of the dealers do not have the funds to corner the market and melt value is all that is achieved. The last time I was offered an Order Of The Rose was 2 years ago but I didn't have the instant funds, otherwise I would have bought it for under Melt. Sofia really is the place to get the deals. Lots of the dealers do work closely with one another and sometimes an item can do the rounds between dealers for some time. During the energy crisis I had "begging letters" from more than one Bulgarian dealer requesting that I take as many items off of their hands as quickly as possible for very little money and I did buy some of them. With many of the more common commemorative medals once you have paid for postage you will never break even if you have to sell them on. Having good relationships with dealers and haggling is a sure route to getting better prices. Right place and time helps too.

P.S. I bought my Botev Prize and Order "13 Centuries" when the market was at the highest prices, since then gold has really taken off and perverted the value.