1 Franc

French forces occupied Korçë in late 1916 and established an autonomous Albanian republic under their protection — the short-lived République albanaise de Korçë. This note is a product of that occupation administration, not of any Albanian central authority. The issuing municipality was effectively a French military construct, and the currency was denominated in francs accordingly.

Printed locally by A. A. Vangheli rather than a metropolitan press, production quality reflects the constraints of a provincial wartime job. The engraver Davier is otherwise obscure; whether that credit refers to an individual or a small atelier operating under French military patronage is not firmly established.

The handstamp was the primary anti-counterfeiting measure — thin protection, but consistent with emergency municipal notgeld of the period.