10 Lek

Banka Kombëtare e Shqipnis — the National Bank of Albania — was never a truly independent institution by this point. Italy had occupied Albania in April 1939, and the bank operated under effective Italian financial control from that moment. This note, printed by the Banca d'Italia in Rome, is a direct product of that arrangement: Albanian currency manufactured by the occupying power's own printing facility.

The P#11 series circulated during a period of forced economic integration, as Italian authorities worked to align Albanian monetary policy with the lira zone. Small-denomination notes like this one absorbed the heaviest use and consequently survive in unworn condition far less often than the higher values in the same series.