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5 Libras
| Issuer | Companhia de Moçambique |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Against an elaborate guilloche sunburst underprint in green and orange, the Portuguese royal arms appear as the central vignette at upper centre, flanked by denomination numeral '5' in ornate cartouches at each corner with vertical marginal lettering. A rectangular red overprint reading 'Companhia de Moçambique' is applied across the face, with the issuer's name 'BANCO DA BEIRA' in large letterpress type above; the date 'Beira, 15 de Setembro de 1919' and three manuscript signatures occupy the lower portion, with the printer's imprint 'Bradbury Wilkinson & Cª Gravadores Londres' at foot. Overprint on Banco da Beira P#R8. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO DA BEIRA PAGARÁ A VISTA AO PORTADOR CINCO LIBRAS ESTERLINAS OURO COMPANHIA DE MOÇAMBIQUE |
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| Comments |
The Companhia de Moçambique — a chartered company granted authority over the territories of Manica and Sofala — had the unusual right to issue its own currency, entirely independent of the Portuguese colonial administration in Lourenço Marques. That arrangement, more common in the seventeenth century than the twentieth, persisted here because the company's concession gave it quasi-governmental powers over its territory until 1942.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced the plates in London, which was standard practice for colonial currency of this class. The 1919 date places this note in a period of post-war economic pressure, when the company's revenues from its Beira port operations and the Trans-Zambesia Railway were under strain.
The Libra denomination tied the company's currency to sterling rather than the Portuguese Escudo — a deliberate commercial choice reflecting where the money actually moved.