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1/2 Libra
| Issuer | Banco da Beira |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is engraved in deep blue-green with rich multicolour guilloche work filling the entire field. A large central oval cartouche carries the stylised monogram fraction '1/2' in ornate script, enclosed by the arched denomination legend above and below. Intricate rosette and floral lathe-work panels occupy each corner, and the printer's imprint appears in small lettering along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | MEIA LIBRA ESTERLINA OURO BRADBURY WILKINSON Y Cª GRAVADORES LONDRES |
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| Comments |
Banco da Beira was a short-lived commercial institution operating out of Beira, Mozambique — then Portuguese East Africa — and its note-issuing activity was brief enough that the full series remains genuinely uncommon. The half libra denomination is the smallest in the bank's issue, and Bradbury Wilkinson printed it during the same period they were producing notes for numerous colonial and quasi-colonial issuers across the British and Portuguese imperial orbits.
The libra as a unit of account in Portuguese colonial circulation was already an awkward legacy holdover by 1919, and these notes were not long in use before the escudo system asserted itself across Mozambique's monetary administration.