1 Centavo Misericordia De Vila Real

The Misericórdias were medieval charitable brotherhoods operating hospitals, poorhouses, and burial services across Portugal and its empire. During the severe coin shortage of World War One, the national government authorised local entities — municipalities, commercial associations, and institutions like the Misericórdias — to issue their own small-denomination cédulas. These notes were legal only within strictly local circulation and were intended as a stopgap until metallic coinage could be restocked.

The Imprensa Artística in Vila Real was a regional press with limited typographic resources, which is visible in the rudimentary production quality common to this series. MA#2462 is among the more obscure charitable-institution issues of the Portuguese cédula period.