The sceptre of Bulgaria's King Ferdinand I, used for some ceremonies during the period of 1890 - 1908, is among a unique collection of royal regalia, jewellery and military uniforms from Bulgaria's Third Kingdom that is being sold on the Internet.

King Ferdinand did not posses a crown or orb, since under the Turnovo constitution only an Orthodox Bulgarian King could receive Kingdom Royal regalia from the Bulgarian church and Ferdinand was a Catholic.

Nevertheless, during the time before he proclaimed himself King of Bulgaria in 1908, he used to have a Princely Royal sceptre and it is the one listed now for sale at VicMart at the price of USD 75,000.

Ferdinand's sceptre has an interesting history. It was taken out of the Royal Palace in Sofia during the end of World War II when the communist partisan troops entered the Palace, looted and destroyed the majority of the Royal symbols and objects. One of these communists had taken the sceptre along with the personal Great State Seal of the Secret Cabinet of King Ferdinand and kept those two pieces in secret for more than 50 years now.

The sceptre is about 130 cm tall and is made out of fire gilt, silver thread and boxwood. On the top of the sceptre is Ferdinand's monogram F.

Ferdinand was not keen on using the sceptre outside the Palace, since he was not really accepted yet by the Great powers during his Prince period of 1887 to 1908. Later on Imperial Russia, Germany, etc. accepted him and an accession ceremony took place in 1908.

The last time a Bulgarian Royal objects were sold, was during 1997 at Sotheby's auction when the World War II exile King Simeon II Saxe-Coburg, now Bulgaria's Prime Minister, had sold many of his Grandfather's King Ferdinand I order collection, which had many pieces in gold, diamonds and precious stones.

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