Catalog
1/2 Franc Series A
| Issuer | Municipality of Korçë |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
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| Printer | A. A. Vangheli, Korytza |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a large Albanian double-headed eagle in dark brown letterpress, wings spread wide, set against a green guilloche underprint of repeating foliate scrollwork. Circular denomination panels bearing '1/2 fr' flank the eagle at left and right. Bilingual text in French and Albanian occupies the lower left and right quadrants respectively, with two manuscript signatures below, the place name KORÇË and the date 1-3-17 at centre. Printer and engraver credits appear at the lower corners, with a serial number in blue at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain geometric underprint in green covering the entire field, composed of repeated zigzag wave patterns and the numeral 50 arranged in horizontal rows, with circular target ornaments at the corners and along the side borders. The denomination is stated in two languages in bold green letterpress: DEMI FRANC above and GJYSMË FRANGE below, with the large fractional numeral 1/2 at centre. A violet control stamp is visible in the upper right area. |
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| Comments |
Korçë's French occupation administration (1916–1918) created a short-lived autonomous zone — the République de Koritza — and with it came the practical problem of small-change shortages. These fractional notes were a local stopgap, printed in-town by A. A. Vangheli rather than shipped from any metropolitan press, which is why the production quality varies noticeably across surviving examples.
The entire Korçë series is among the rarest Albanian emergency issues, with the half-franc denomination particularly hard to find in any condition.