Catalog
1/2 Franc Series C
| Issuer | Korçë, Municipality of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in green on plain paper stock. A dense geometric underprint of repeated '50' numerals interspersed with chevron and wave patterns fills the entire field. At centre, the denomination is stated in large letterpress text on three lines in French and Albanian, with the fraction '1/2' between them. Small concentric-circle rosette devices mark each corner of the inner border. The printer's and engraver's credits appear in mirror-reversed text along the bottom margin. |
| Reverse lettering | DEMI FRANC 1/2 GJYSMË FRANGE |
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| Comments |
Korçë's municipal fractional notes are among the most unusual local issues to emerge from the First World War. The town was occupied by French forces from late 1916 and administered as a quasi-autonomous zone — the "Republic of Korçë" in common usage, though never formally constituted as such. The municipal authority issued its own currency partly because French military scrip was inadequate for small transactions and Ottoman coinage had effectively vanished from circulation.
Printed locally by A. A. Vangheli, this is a genuinely provincial production — not a note sent abroad to a commercial security printer and returned. Davier's engraving credit is unusual for a wartime municipal issue of this type.