1 Lek

Albania's 1976 note series was produced entirely under Enver Hoxha's autarkic regime, at a point when the country had severed ties with China — its last remaining foreign patron — and was constitutionally prohibited from accepting foreign loans or investment. Currency production under those conditions meant working with whatever domestic or residual printing capacity existed, which for this series resulted in notably austere output compared to earlier Albanian issues printed abroad.

The 1 Lek denomination saw heavy everyday circulation and survivors in clean condition are harder to locate than the higher values in the same series.