ALBANIA - ZOG I - Lot 66

ALBANIA - ZOG I President 1925 - 1928 then King 1828 - 1939 Bust of Skanderbeg* by the engraver Giuseppe Romagnoli. R/. Lion of Saint Mark. Fr 6 20 Franga gold 1927 Vienna (5,053 copies). Weight: 6.45 g Rare. Superb. * Skanderbeg, whose name was Georges Kastrioti, was born on May 6, 1405 in Croïa. He was the son of Jean Kastrioti, an Albanian nobleman, and Vojsava Kastrioti, Albanian. He died on January 17, 1468 in Lezhë. He was an Albanian lord of the 15th century, considered Albanian national hero for his resistance to the Ottoman Empire. The sultan used to take the children of rulers hostage rulers as hostages to be raised at the Ottoman court. In 1413, Georges Kastrioti and his three brothers were taken by the Turkish sultan sultan, Mehmed I. He attended the Ottoman Empire's military academy with the future Sultan Murad II, who ascended the throne in 1421. after the death of his father, Mehmed I. Sultan Murad II entrusted him with high military offices. Skanderbeg won military victories in Asia, expanding the Empire on behalf of the Turks. After the death of his father, Prince Gjon, the sultan, instead of conferring the paternal title on Skanderbeg, occupied Albania and installed a governor in Croïa, their ancestral stronghold. Skanderbeg declared his independence on November 28, 1443, hoisting his red flag with a black eagle. Skanderbeg, having rejected Islam and the the Ottoman Empire, became the defender of his country and of Christianity in the Balkans and Europe.