Mushroom Envelopes

Did you know about the Bulgarian Mushroom Postal Stationery Sets? So, we present them now.

The first set contains 6 envelopes, sized 161x114 mm, issued in June 1988 depicting edible fungi. The represented species are as followed (in brackets is the common name in English and Bulgarian language):

• Leccinum aurantiacum ( / оранжева брезовка)
• Butyriboletus regius (royal bolete / царска манатарка)
• Cantharellus cibarius (chanterelle / пачи крак)
• Russula vesca (bare-toothed Russula / кафявовиолетова гълъбка)
• Amanita rubescens (blusher / бисерна гъба)
• Coprinus comatus (shaggy mane / порцеланова копринка)

The second set contains twice more envelopes of the same size, also depicting edible mushrooms, as 5 of them were issued in March 1990 and the other 7 were issued in June 1990. The species are listed below.

March:

• Marasmius oreades (fairy ring mushroom / обикновена челядинка)
• Ramaria botrytis (pink-tipped coral mushroom / червеновърха коралка)
• Albatrellus confluens ( / симиденка (кифла) гъба)
• Cortinarius caperatus (gypsy mushroom / скрежовка)
• Flammulina velutipes (Enokitake / зимна припънка)

June:

• Sarcodon imbricatus (shingled hedgehog / кафява сърненка)
• Calocybe gambosa (St. George's mushroom / майска гъба)
• Cerioporus squamosus aka Polyporus squamosus (dryad's saddle / пъстърва)
• Infundibulicybe geotropa (trooping funnel / едра миризливка)
• Leccinum scabrum (birch bolete / брезова манатарка)
• Cortinarius praestans (goliath webcap / боздуганка)
• Clitocybe nuda aka Lepista nuda (wood blewit / виолетка)

Both sets are of the same style, featuring Indicium CO. Differences can be found in the text on the back side. Aside of the year clearly specified, in the first line is the name of the publishing postal agency called "Assosiation - Communications" in 1988 while in the issue of 1990, it is named "Commitee of Communications and Informatics". The original price of the items of the both sets is "8 st". (below images)

Overprints and Surcharges

Some quantity of the envelope depicting Ramaria botrytis was overprinted with green text and issued in April 1990 to meet the international philatelic exhibition named "Nature and Us". The host cities were Warsaw, Moscow, Prague and Sofia. (image on the right)

In 1991, due to the change in the postal rates, the items of the second set underwent two types of surcharges by additional indicium in the same color as the original (below image). The first type, issued on February 8th, was applied only on three items of the set. They are Sarcodon imbricatus, Cerioporus squamosus and Infundibulicybe geotropa. The second type, issued on February 21st, covers the entire set.

On the back side, the surcharges are marked by an additional text line in red.

The story of these series ended in May 1991 when the item depicting Enokitake (Flammulina velutipes) was issued overprinted for the Philatelic Exhibition Ekofila '91 - Sofia. The additional indicium this time is in green. (image on the right)

Special Postmarks

During both exhibitions, "Nature and Us" '90 and "Ekofila" '91, Special Postmarks were presented.
There are envelopes from all series stamped with them.

Mr.Phila