1/2 Lek Prova

Albania's first national coinage was issued in 1926 following the proclamation of Ahmet Zogu as President — a political stabilization effort after years of post-Ottoman disorder and competing foreign interests. The Prova issues of that year were struck in Rome as pattern submissions, never approved for general circulation. Most were retained by the Italian mint or distributed to officials, leaving surviving examples genuinely scarce rather than artificially so.