1 Centavo Penafiel

Penafiel's municipal chamber was one of dozens of Portuguese local authorities forced into emergency note issuance during the severe coin shortages that plagued the country from roughly 1917 onward. The central government's inability to maintain adequate bronze and cupro-nickel coinage in circulation left municipalities, parishes, pharmacies, and even private businesses printing their own fractional substitutes — a situation that persisted well into the early 1920s before Lisbon managed to stabilize small-denomination supply.

These cédulas municipais were legally sanctioned but locally redeemable only, which kept most in tight regional circulation and makes examples from smaller issuing bodies genuinely uncommon today.