Catalog
1.000 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Escudo (1914-1977) |
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| Obverse description | Cheque-format trial document issued by Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Sede em Lisboa, dated 3 de Setembro de 1947, with the denomination Esc. 1.000$00 printed in the upper right. The left margin bears an oval vignette with a ship motif and a listing of the bank's branch territories including Brasil, Africa Oriental, China, India, and Timor. A large diagonal red overprint reading 'ORIGINAL' crosses the face, accompanied by a blue rectangular cancellation stamp reading 'P.P. Banco Nacional Ultramarino S. TOME' with a manuscript signature below. The document is assigned to S. Tomé and carries series and cheque number references in the upper left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is plain, printed on white paper, showing through-print ghost impressions of the obverse text in mirror image. An embossed dry seal in the lower left bears the Banco Nacional Ultramarino ship device. Diagonal fold lines are visible across the surface, and a hand-written number appears in the upper right corner. |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it was a private bank granted government concession rights to issue currency across multiple overseas territories simultaneously, meaning the same institution was printing money for Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and others at different points in its history. This 1947 note falls into its mature colonial-issue period, when Waterlow & Sons were the dominant supplier for BNU's higher denominations.
Waterlow's contract work for colonial issuers was extensive through the 1940s, though the firm's reputation had been permanently shadowed by the 1925 Portuguese escudo forgery scandal — a separate but hard-to-ignore footnote whenever Waterlow and Lusophone currency appear together.