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!
50 000 Reis
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Real (1865-1914) |
| 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 | Portrait of Vasco da Gama in intaglio at left, with a vignette of Vasco da Gama embarking at right; the arms of Portugal appear at upper right. A red seal is applied at bottom centre, with two known varieties, set against an intricate guilloche underprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A central intaglio vignette within a circular guilloche border bearing the legend BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO presents an allegorical female figure seated alongside a sailing ship; denomination numerals 50 appear in bold letterpress at left and right within an elaborate multicolour guilloche underprint in green, yellow, and red. The payability inscription is set in a rectangular panel at the top centre. |
| 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 |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino was Portugal's designated issuing bank for its overseas territories, but this particular note — denominated in the old *reis* system — was issued for metropolitan Angola before the escudo replaced the reis structure in the following decade. By 1909, Bradbury Wilkinson had already established a strong reputation for colonial currency work across British and Portuguese Africa, and their intaglio printing held up well under tropical humidity that destroyed lesser paper issues.
At 50,000 reis, this represents the highest practical denomination of everyday commercial use in Angola at the time. Notes from this BNU series are genuinely scarce in any grade — circulation in Luanda was hard on paper, and few were preserved after the currency transition rendered them obsolete.