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 Centavos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The back, printed in red-brown intaglio, presents a central allegorical female figure seated before a background of sailing ships, enclosed within a large circular guilloche frame. Ornate cartouches at left and right each carry the denomination '0$50', and the bank name 'BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO' is rendered in ribbon lettering across the upper field. The printer's imprint 'BRADBURY WILKINSON & CO. GRAVADORES LONDRES' appears in small lettering along the lower border. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO 0$50 |
| 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 occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it held the note-issuing concession for multiple overseas territories simultaneously, and this 50 Centavos issue reflects that administrative sprawl. Bradbury Wilkinson produced colonial small-denomination notes for numerous issuers in this period, and their work for BNU was no exception to the general pattern of shared plate economies across different territories.
1914 places this at the outbreak of the First World War, when Portuguese overseas currency supply chains became genuinely complicated. Determining which territory this specific note was intended to serve — Mozambique, Angola, Timor — requires checking the printed text, as BNU issued near-identical notes across several dependencies in the same years.