Albania Gold 100 Franga Prova 1927 Existtance?

It's listed in Krause under the "prova" section at the back of the listing for Albania, KM# PrA32, listed at $2000 in my 2006 edition Krause; mintage unreported. As a comparison, regular 100 franga ari are listed at $1500-$1600 in Unc.

My current copy of Krause lists PrA32 as a silver coin struck in Vienna. No listing for this coin in gold. Prova is a proof coin. This may be a rare gold proof or more than likely a gold plated silver PrA32.

Hmm. Numismaster lists PrA32 as "silver", but the price listed in my catalogue is clearly for a gold coin (the other 100 franga ari provas also are given a value of $2000. I suspect the "silver" entry is an error, and it's actually gold - especially with the evidence of an actual gold coin.

Swamperbob, I'm not too sure of the difference between a "pattern" and a "prova" either. Provas seem to be less valuable; perhaps they were made for sale to collectors, or made for distribution to legislators as a demonstration piece, rather than an internal test coin which is what I always understand a "pattern" to be.

I would be very curious to see the results of an specific gravity test on that coin. A Prova with such soft features and apparent wear is on the fringe of "believable", in my opinion. It appears to be gold but very soft gold otherwise - it endured a LOT of circulation just at a point in time 1927-1933 when I would never expect that to happen. The world economic problems saw gold hoarded FAST starting in 1929. That gives two years for circulation of a high denomination gold coin (a presentation coin at that). Does that seem unlikely to anyone else? The coin appears to have significant pocket time under it's belt so to speak. Could it have been a lucky piece? My concern is that it might not be COIN gold but possibly a casting in 0.999 fine gold which is mushy with slight circulation. It could also be a casting from a degraded or poorly made transfer mold.

So I need to ask 2 followup questions; Is the edge correct? Can you get a picture?

I also noticed another feature that makes me suspicious. Have you checked the letter N in SHQIPNI closely? You need to use a binocular microscope. To my eye the coin looks like it possibly has a doubled impression in that letter and the adjacent one. Any doubling would make me get a bit suspicious of the coin being original. The dies used to make the coins should have been top notch and doubling of the image is often seen as poor quality. But doubling is ALSO FAR MORE COMMON on transfer impressions.

Also on the N itself, it appears that the upright on the left side of the letter is cut into the die DEEPER than the diagonal bar (because of the shadow line) - a feature like that in a letter is often a signal of engraving as opposed to punching in the preparation of the die. The die punches are typically cast and hardened AFTER the face of the letter or numeral is ground absolutely flat and smooth. This results in a letter or numeral with the surface at ONE LEVEL. But a multi-level letter can also be seen on many transfer dies because the forgers strengthen the details near the edge (where pressure reduces and details transfer poorly).

Now this may simply be a shadow caused by some odd lighting effect, but in my opinion the face of a letter typically should be at one level. I know NOTHING about this coin so I do not know for certain a letter like this would be wrong. But unless you know for certain that the die punch used to create the N had a bi-level face (REALLY HARD TO MAKE by the way) - I would be very suspicious.

neal - If the coin is really gold then the price is good and it is worth the risk. But if it is not gold the price would be far too high.

The weight 31.5 grams seems to match the wear level but also confirms my belief about the amount of time that level of wear would have taken. That is over 2% of total weight.

Therefore, a Specific Gravity is critical at this point. If the coin dealer has a decent scale you could do a rough SG right in the shop. Weigh the coin and confirm the weight of 31.5 grams. Then weigh the coin while it is hanging in water. Gold is so dense SG over 19 when pure that 10% alloy drops the SG to just over 16. So a very rough in store SG can be useful.