Catalog
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| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#14 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The bicolour reverse is printed in dark blue and deep red-brown on an uncoloured ground, with broad guilloche rosette panels in blue dominating the left and right fields, each bearing a "50 AVOS" denomination tablet. A large oval lathe-work underprint in red-brown occupies the central field, over which "CINCOENTA AVOS" is printed in bold serif letters, while the bank title "BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO" appears in a blue panel at the top and "TIMOR" is set in a rectangular cartouche at the foot, flanked by ornamental rosette stops. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO 50 AVOS CINCOENTA AVOS TIMOR (Translation: National Overseas Bank – 50 Avos – Fifty Avos – Timor) |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino issued this fractional note for Timor — a colonial territory so remote that maintaining a reliable coin supply was a persistent logistical problem, and low-denomination paper became a practical necessity rather than an unusual measure. The 50 Avos sits at the bottom of the wartime BNU Timor series, all of which were printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson in New Malden, Surrey.
Japanese forces occupied Portuguese Timor in February 1942, and much of the circulating currency was disrupted or destroyed during the occupation. Notes from this 1940 printing that survived did so largely outside normal circulation channels.