1 Centavo Alcobaça

Portuguese municipal emergency notes — cédulas — proliferated after 1917 when the central government failed to supply sufficient small-denomination coinage. Alcobaça was one of dozens of municipalities forced to print their own fractional currency to keep local commerce functional. The 1 centavo denomination sits at the lowest practical end of the cédula range; at that value, even in the late 1910s inflationary economy, a single note would have changed hands constantly before wearing out.

The Câmara Municipal series from Alcobaça is sparsely documented, and MA#97 attribution reflects the Marques da Costa cédula catalog, the standard reference for Portuguese municipal issues.