Albania 1968 20 leke

Künker sale 354, lot 5002

This specimen was lot 5002 in Künker sale 354 (Osnabrück, Germany, September 2021), where it sold for €320 (about US$445 including buyer's fees). The catalog description^[1] noted,

"ALBANIEN, Sozialistische Republik. 20 Leke 1968. 3,56 g Feingold. GOLD. Nur 2.920 Exemplare geprägt. Polierte Platte. (Albania, people's republic, twenty leke of 1968. Only 2,920 struck, proof)"

This NCLT honored the 500th anniversary of the death of Skanderbeg. This coin lacks the fineness counterstamp at the bottom of the reverse. Coins with the counterstamp have catalog number KM 51.1. A series of gold and silver NCLT's were issued for this occasion, the largest being a gold 500 leke. Albania not having a mint, these were made in Paris.

Recorded mintage: 2,920.

Specification: 3.95 g, 0.900 fine gold, 0.114 troy oz AGW.

Catalog reference: KM 51.2 (no counterstamp), Fr-22; Schl. 42.1.1.

Source:

• Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
• Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
• ^[1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Künker Auktion 354: Munzen und Medaillen aus Mittelalter und Neuzeit u. a. Braunschweig-Luneburg. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2021.

Link to:

• 1968 10 leke, 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Skanderbeg
• 1968 50 lekë, ruins of Argirocastrum
• 1968 100 leke
• 1968 500 leke, 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Skanderbeg
• Coins and currency dated 1968