Catalog
50 Lekë
| Issuer | Banka e Shtetit Shqiptar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
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| Value | 50 Lekë (50 ALK) |
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| Obverse description | Brown on light underprint. The Albanian State coat of arms — a double-headed eagle within an oval guilloche frame bearing the date 24 MAJ 1944 — appears at left, while an intaglio vignette at right presents a bust portrait of a soldier wearing a cap and holding a rifle, set within an oval border. The large numeral "50" is printed centrally in bold letterpress, above the denomination legend "PESËDHJETË LEKË", with the serial number in red and the date 1947 at the lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANKA E SHTETIT SHQIPTAR PESËDHJETË 50 LEKË I PAGUHEN PRURËSIT ME TË PARË (Translation: Albanian State Bank / Fifty / 50 / Leke / Payable to the bearer on demand) 1947 |
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| Comments |
The 1947 Albanian note series, of which this is part, was issued under the communist government that had consolidated power following the partisan victory in 1944. The Banka e Shtetit Shqiptar — the State Bank of Albania — replaced the earlier Italian-backed institutions, and the 1947 notes marked a deliberate break from the wartime monetary apparatus. Albania's postwar currency was unusually isolated: the country had already begun severing ties with Yugoslavia by the late 1940s, leaving its financial system with few external reference points.
The series was short-lived. A currency reform in 1965 redenominated at 10:1, rendering all preexisting notes obsolete almost overnight.