Albania’s first banknotes were made in 1925-1926, when the small southern European nation was a Kingdom. The four notes, valued between 5 and 100 franka ari, were used until Albania was occupied by Italy in 1939. The Italians issued notes denominated in franga and lek until 1945, when as the People’s Republic of Albania, notes were issued again by Albania itself. These were in franga, franka ari, and lekë.
Note that while lek is the singular form and lekë is the plural form of Albania’s currency, some note designs (especially early ones) use lek even on values greater than one, and others may omit the umlaut and just use leke for the plural. Also note that vendors selling rare Albanian banknotes may use some mixture of lek, lekë, and leke.
Albania Stamps: Collecting a Twisted History of Names
The plural of frank ar is franka ari; these are also sometimes spelled frang ar and franga ari. Frang and franga (without ar or ari) are from a distinct Albanian currency; the potential for confusion in sales listings is obviously high. (Non-English vendors occasionally use francs when listing Albanian paper money for sale.) Sellers will often mix these in unreliable ways, so diligence and caution pay off when looking for a specific type of Albanian banknote for your collection. The good news is you can often find notes that other sellers miss by paying closer attention to mistakes in titles.
