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10 Avos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in green on plain paper, the reverse is composed entirely of typographic and lathe-work elements without a pictorial vignette. The issuer's name BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO appears in a ruled panel at the top, while the denomination numerals 10 AVOS are set within elaborate engine-turned rosette cartouches at the left and right. The central field carries the split denomination inscription DEZ AVOS over an intricate guilloche background, with TIMOR in a boxed panel at the foot. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO 10 AVOS DEZ AVOS TIMOR (Translation: National Overseas Bank / 10 Avos / Ten Avos / Timor) |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino's small-denomination wartime issues for Macau occupy an odd corner of Portuguese colonial monetary history. By 1940, the territory was technically neutral — Portugal had stayed out of the war — but surrounded by Japanese-occupied China and acutely vulnerable to supply disruption. Low-denomination fractional notes like this one were a practical response to coin shortages, with metal increasingly difficult to source and circulate reliably.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced the plate work in London under conditions that were anything but routine — the firm was printing colonial currency throughout the Blitz period.