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20 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 172 × 115 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO DECRETO No. 17.154 PROVINCIA DE S. TOMÉ e PRÍNCIPE VINTE ESCUDOS PAGAVEL NAS DEPENDENCIAS DA PROVINCIA DE S. TOMÉ e PRÍNCIPE LISBOA, 21 de Março de 1944. BRADBURY, WILKINSON & & Co. Ld. GRAVADORES, LONDRES (Translation: National Bank Overseas Decree no. 17,154 Province of St. Thomas and Prince Twenty Escudos Payable at the premises of the Province of St. Thomas and Prince Lisbon, March 21, 1944. Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Ltd. Engravers, London) |
| Reverse description | Blue with green and orange guilloche underprint. A central intaglio vignette, framed by a circular band bearing the legend "BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO", presents a seated allegorical female figure with sailing ships in the background; the denomination numeral "20" appears in large white relief panels to the left and right of the central medallion, set within elaborate lathe-work cornerpieces. The provincial payment clause is inscribed across the upper portion of the note. |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it was a private institution holding the note-issuing concession for multiple overseas territories simultaneously, meaning the same parent designs often migrated across Angola, Mozambique, Timor, and beyond with only the overprint changed. This 1944 issue belongs to a wartime production run handled by Bradbury Wilkinson at their New Malden works, a firm that continued supplying colonial currency to Lisbon's overseas banks throughout the Second World War despite the obvious logistical complications of operating as a London security printer during the Blitz years.
Portugal's formal neutrality kept the colonial monetary apparatus functioning when other imperial systems fractured, and BNU notes of this period remained in circulation well past their intended replacement dates.