½ Frange / Franc

The Korçë franc notes of 1917 are among the most locally-produced emergency issues anywhere in Europe during the First World War. The short-lived Albanian Self-Government at Korçë was a French-protected enclave — established in late 1916 after French forces pushed back Bulgarian and Central Powers occupation — and this currency was essentially a municipal improvisation printed by a local press, A. A. Vangheli, with no involvement from any major security printer. Davier, credited as both designer and engraver, remains otherwise unidentified in the literature.

The control stamp was the only real anti-counterfeiting measure, which tells you something about the circumstances under which these circulated.