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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Stork, post: 3506340, member: 71642&quot;]Checking in!&nbsp; I don&#039;t collect the provas--I&#039;d have to go back to work full time to pull that off (there&#039;s a plethora of them and way too many gold ones!). </p><p><br /></p><p>The 1927 5 FrA prova is known for being heavily counterfeited.&nbsp; I had one years ago and sold/traded it to someone who collected fakes.&nbsp; That was before starting to go after Albanian coins seriously.&nbsp; Wish I&#039;d kept it now.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yours looks fake--if nothing else provas were designed to be of superior quality for collectors, theoretically trial pieces, but with collectors in mind and generally of high quality.&nbsp; No way would there be die cracks like that.&nbsp; The details and the rims look off too, as well as the apparent relief (which could be the photos).&nbsp; Plus the weight is supposed to be 25 grams.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are a couple Heritage archived auctions: </p><p><a href="https://coins.ha.com/itm/albania/world-coins/albania-zog-silver-prova-5-franga-ari-1927-v-/a/3019-23495.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://coins.ha.com/itm/albania/world-coins/albania-zog-silver-prova-5-franga-ari-1927-v-/a/3019-23495.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515" rel="nofollow">https://coins.ha.com/itm/albania/world-coins/albania-zog-silver-prova-5-franga-ari-1927-v-/a/3019-23495.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515</a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://coins.ha.com/itm/albania/world-coins/albania-zog-silver-prova-5-franga-ari-1927-v-/a/3019-23495.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://coins.ha.com/itm/albania/world-coins/albania-zog-silver-prova-5-franga-ari-1927-v-/a/3019-23495.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515" rel="nofollow">https://coins.ha.com/itm/albania/world-coins/albania-zog-silver-prova-5-franga-ari-1927-v-/a/3019-23495.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Look at the full slab photos and you can see what I mean.&nbsp; Very different.</p><p><br /></p><p>IIRC the 1926 prova is seriously scarce, like the other provas.&nbsp; The 1927 had a huge mintage (40,000 per the price guides, vs. a mintage of 60,000 for the regular issue in 1926).&nbsp; So I suppose many could have been handled.&nbsp; Even so, and even if it was just a glorified ciruclation coin, it still has the wrong weight.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ll try and grab all the photos and see if a side by side can be done.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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