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500 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1956 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Escudo (1914-1974) |
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| Obverse description | Portrait vignette of King Afonso V in profile at right, wearing an ornate armoured helmet, with the bank's circular seal at left and the Portuguese arms at lower right. The denomination QUINHENTOS ESCUDOS is printed in bold letterpress at centre, below the territorial inscription S. TOME E PRINCIPE / PROVINCIA PORTUGUESA, with the date LISBOA, 18 de Abril de 1956 beneath. Two manuscript signatures appear at lower centre, above the titles O ADMINISTRADOR and O GOVERNADOR, with guilloche underprint in blue-violet tones across the entire field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO PAGÁVEL NA PROVINCIA DE S. TOME E PRINCIPE BRADBURY WILKINSON & C.ª DE GRAVADORES NEW MALDEN SURREY ING. A12893 |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it functioned simultaneously as a commercial bank and as the currency-issuing authority across multiple overseas territories, a dual role that made its notes semi-official instruments of state policy rather than purely commercial paper. This 500 Escudos was issued for one of those territories, with Bradbury Wilkinson handling the engraving and printing at their New Malden works, as they did for a significant portion of BNU's colonial output through the mid-twentieth century.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work on Portuguese colonial issues of this period is consistently fine, though the security provision here relies solely on watermark protection — no security thread, no fluorescent ink.