1 Centavo Leiria

Câmara Municipal de Leiria issued emergency fractional cédulas during the acute coin shortage that gripped Portugal in the early 1920s — a direct consequence of wartime hoarding and the collapse of small-denomination silver coinage. Municipal chambers across the country were legally authorised to fill the gap, producing their own paper substitutes for coins that had simply vanished from circulation. Leiria was one of dozens of municipalities that took up that authority.

The 1 Centavo denomination was the smallest unit most chambers bothered to print, and surviving examples at this value tend to show heavier wear than higher denominations — a centavo changed hands constantly before it became worthless.