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50 Leke
| Issuer | Banka e Shtetit Shqiptar (State Bank of Albania) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1964-1976 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#38 |
| Obverse description | Central vignette portrays a column of armed soldiers on parade marching left to right beneath the Albanian national flag, rendered in fine intaglio line work against a light guilloche underprint. To the upper right, a sculpted bust portrait of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg in his characteristic crested helmet is set within the design. The denomination numeral "50" appears in an ornate guilloche cartouche at lower right, flanked by laurel-branch side borders, with star devices in each corner; the date 1976 is repeated at lower left and right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents an intaglio scene of a multi-storey apartment block under active construction, surrounded by scaffolding and tower cranes, symbolising socialist industrialisation. In the left foreground, crossed tools — a rifle and a pickaxe — are rendered in bold intaglio, emblematic of the unity of military defence and labour. To the right, a rectangular panel contains the Albanian state coat of arms surmounted by a red star above the denomination numeral "50" and the date 1976, set against a fine guilloche background; the denomination in cursive script occupies the lower central field. |
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| Comments |
The Banka e Shtetit Shqiptar was established in 1945 as Albania came under Hoxha's control, replacing the Italian-era institutions that had managed the wartime occupation currency. This series ran across an unusually long window — over a decade — without reissue, a reflection of Albania's near-total economic isolation from both Western and, after 1961, Soviet financial systems.
Hysen Devolli's engraver credit is notable: domestic engraving talent was deliberately cultivated under the regime as a matter of self-sufficiency, and Devolli is among the few named Albanian engravers documented in this period.