Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Centavo Serpa
| Issuer | Município de Serpa |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Plain cream paper note of simple typographic design, with a central rectangular border enclosing the text fields. The denomination 'UM CENTAVO' is set in large letterpress type at the centre, below the heading 'CEDULA MUNICIPAL' and a serial number field prefixed 'S.A. N.º'. The issuing authority 'Municipio de SERPA' is printed in the lower portion of the vignette area, while the value '1 Centavo' repeats along all four margins, with the bottom marginal inscription inverted. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, showing plain cream paper with the ghost show-through of the obverse letterpress impression visible in mirror image through the thin stock, confirming the single-sided typographic production of this emergency municipal cédula. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Municipal emergency notes from interior Portugal are among the least-documented issues in Iberian notaphily. Serpa, a small town in the Baixo Alentejo, issued its own fractional cédulas during the acute coin shortage that gripped Portugal from roughly 1917 onward — a shortage so severe that municipalities, commercial houses, and even charitable institutions were legally permitted to produce their own temporary paper substitutes for bronze coinage.
The MA# reference places this within the Marques de Almeida cédulas catalogue, the primary authority for Portuguese local issues. Documentation on surviving quantities is thin.