Draganov, Dimitar

Multiple-talented numismatist

Dimitar Draganov (*1952) graduated from the University of Veliko Tarnovo with an MA in History and Classical Archaeology in 1978. Already as a student he took part in archaeological excavations in Cabyle, located in what is today’s Bulgaria. In his capacity as numismatist and archaeologist at the Regional Museum of History, Yambol, he then worked on the Cabyle coins finds from 1979 onwards. In 1986 he obtained his doctor’s degree in Ancient Numismatics with a thesis on the coinage of Cabyle. In 1995, he became associate professor, in 2007 he was elected full-time professor.

From 1979-2002 Dimitar Draganov served as Head of the Numismatic Department of the Regional Museum of History, Yambol, and was its Director between 1995 and 2002. In 1996 he founded and was editor in chief of the first Bulgarian museum newspaper, which later became a magazine. In 1997, under his leadership, the first museum database of Bulgaria was created. He was a leading part of the first Bulgarian production of a museum multimedia film with archaeological content in 1998. Between 2002 and 2008 he was Head of the Numismatic Department of the Regional Museum of History, Ruse. From 2005 to 2017 Dimitar Draganov was chairman of the Bobokov Brothers Foundation. Since 2008 he has been Director of the Numismatic Museum, Ruse, as the first private museum in Bulgaria, which he co-founded as President of the Foundation.

Dimitar Draganov has been a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, London, since 1991. In 1993 he was Visiting Scholar in the Heberden Coin Room at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. He has been honorary member of the Romanian Numismatic Society in Bucharest since 2011.

Dimitar Draganov published more than 100 articles on numismatic topics. He authored eight monographs on the coins of the cities and kings of Thrace and Moesia Inferior, including two SNG volumes, in which he deals with the collections of coins from the Roman colony of Deultum and Apollonia Pontica. Being part of the former Bobokov Brothers Collection, these coins are housed in the Numismatic Museum, Ruse. He published over 150 unknown coin types, denominations and countermarks of different cities and kings, as well as coins of an unknown mint in Thrace (Apros). Dimitar Draganov is the editor of numerous academic and museum publications and curated and organized more than 40 exhibitions. Furthermore, he participated with papers in 36 conferences, including every International Numismatic Congress since 1991.

In 1998 Dimitar Draganov received the Award of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture as “Best Bulgarian Museum Director” in recognition of his achievements. For his poster presentation “The Coinage of the Scythian Kings in the West Pontic Area: Iconography” he won the Medal of the XIVth International Numismatic Congress held in Glasgow in 2009. In 2012 he was given the Award of the municipality of Ruse for contributions to the development of science and culture in the region. In 2017 he received the highest prize of the Ministry of Culture – the “Golden Age” Award as well as the special Award of the Association of Bulgarian Museums for a Lifetime Contribution to the museum activities in Bulgaria.

You can contact Dimitar Draganov via e-mail.

Several of his publications are available for download from his academia.edu profile.

To visit the website of the Ruse Numismatic Museum, click here. 

For learning more about Dimitar Draganov’s “The Coinage of the Scythian Kings in the West Pontic Area” read this CoinsWeekly book review.

Also on CoinsWeekly, Ursula Kampmann dedicates a comprehensive and quite personal greeting to Dimitar Draganov, congratulating him on his 65th birthday.