coinz.eu • Albanian lek [ALK] 1947
coins catalogue Albania People's Republic ALK coins numizmats qindarka numismatics half leku 1/2 leku leke leks Coins of Albania Albanian coins Albanian lek
Adam Kubicki
Albanian lek [ALK] 1947-1965 - Circulation coins catalogue of Albania People's Republic (1).
ALBANIA People's Republic (1947-1965) - Albanian lek [ALK]

1 lek = 100 qindarka

Chaos of the World War II left also confusion in Albanian currency. During the war time Albanian lek [ALF] was initially pegged with Italian lira [ITL] in ratio 1 ALF : 6.35 ITL, and later with German mark [DER] in ratio 1 ALF : 1.25 DER. Unstable money foundation triggered a currency reform and from November 1946 the old lek was exchanged into 5 new lek [ALK] in order to enter monetary union with Yugoslavian dinar [YUF] in ratio 1:1. By the decision from July 7, 1947 zink coins were introduced in circulation with face values 1/2, 1, 2 and 5 leke, which were struck on planchets of Yugoslavian coins from 1945: 50 para, 1, 2 and 5 dinars respectively. Zink leke survived in circulation even after the denomination announced on July 14, 1965.

It is worth mentioning that the name of the currency, introduced for the first time by king Ahmet Zogu in 1926, comes from the name of Alexander the Great (Albanian Leka I Madh). An interesting fact is that after the communistic monetary reform of 1965 it appeared that the currency name comes from the name of 15th-century Albanian duke Leke Dukagjini.