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50 Centavos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in brown tones, the reverse centres on an allegorical female figure seated before a vignette of tall ships at sea, enclosed within an oval guilloche frame. The denomination "0$50" appears in bold numerals within ornate rosette cartouches at left and right, flanking the central vignette. The bank name is split across decorative ribbon scrollwork at upper left and upper right, with the printer's imprint at lower centre. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO 0$50 Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Gravadores, Londres (Translation: National Overseas Bank 0$50 / Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Engravers, London) |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino, the Portuguese colonial bank of issue, turned to Bradbury Wilkinson in London for this 1914 fractional note — a common arrangement for Lusophone colonial territories whose currency printing infrastructure depended almost entirely on British security printers. The 50 Centavos denomination places it among the smaller-value notes issued as Portugal's colonial monetary system was straining under the pressures of the First World War, which disrupted shipping, colonial trade, and specie flows across Portuguese Africa and Asia simultaneously.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work from this period is generally clean and technically consistent, though notes of this size and denomination from 1914 BNU issues are notoriously difficult to find without significant handling wear — low face value meant heavy use.