FRANG AR: COIN OF ALBANIA
1 frang ar, 1937: Albanian Kingdom
Ruler: Zog I (Ahmed Muhtar Zogolli) — king of Albania (1928-1939).
1 FRANG AR: literally — 1 gold franc.
SHQIPNI: ALBANIA in the Gheg dialect, which is one of the two varieties of the Albanian language; another dialect is Tosk.
Coat of arms of the Albanian Kingdom (1929-1939): the mantle rises in the center and above it is the crown of Skanderbeg in lead and gold; the shield inside bears the double-headed Albanian eagle.
ZOG I MBRETI I SHQIPTAREVET: Zog I King of the Albanians.
Portrait of the monarch.
R: Italian Mint, Rome.
Coin design: Giuseppe Romagnoli (Italian medalist and sculptor).
MBRETNIA SHQIPTARE (embossed inscription on the edge of coin): ALBANIAN KINGDOM.
Mintage: 600.000.
- Silver (0.835): 23 mm - 4.96 g
- Reference price: 22$
COIN FRANG AR — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- ALBANIA (1926-1938) — ALBANIAN REPUBLIC + ALBANIAN KINGDOM: frang ar = 100 qindar ar
FRANG AR as coin name.
Frang ar (also franga) — monetary unit and coin of Albania during 1926-1947, which was divided into 100 qindar ar. In parallel, another currency was issued — lek (1 frang ar = 5 lek), which in turn consisted of 100 qindar leku. The lek became the only Albanian currency in 1947.
Coins denominated in frang ar were minted from 1926 to 1938. Denominations from 1 to 5 frang ar were made of silver, and from 10 to 100 frang ar — from gold.
The vast majority of coins contained a portrait of Ahmed Muhtar Zogolli (Zogu): first as the president of Albania, later as the Albanian king.
The annual mintage of most of the mentioned coins can be considered extremely insignificant (only 1 frang ar 1935 and 1937 issued in quantities of 700.000 and 600.000 pieces, respectively). All other types and denominations are much less numerous. Therefore, frang ar is not found in every numismatic collection.
Often, the name of the frang ar coin is given as franc ("frang" is the way any franc is written in the Albanian language /by the way, as well as in Luxembourg/). However, many sources still separate the Albanian franc into a separate unit — FRANG AR (golden frang: "ar" is translated as "gold" in the Albanian language).
