1 Escudo

Obverse description	The obverse features the Portuguese colonial arms of São Tomé and Príncipe at center: the national shield of Portugal superimposed upon an armillary sphere, the whole surmounted by a mural crown composed of five towers. The circular legend 'S. TOME·E·PRINCIPE' runs along the upper periphery, with the date '1951' inscribed in the lower field. The design is framed by a beaded border. The composition follows the standard style employed across Portuguese colonial coinage of the Estado Novo period.
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Reverse script	Latin
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Additional information	São Tomé and Príncipe remained a Portuguese overseas territory through the mid-twentieth century, and its coinage was struck in Lisbon under the Estado Novo regime — a colonial monetary arrangement that persisted until independence in 1975. The 1951 issue came during a period when Portugal was modernizing its overseas currency infrastructure while maintaining firm administrative control over its Atlantic island territories. Copper-nickel replaced earlier bronze issues across several Portuguese colonial series during this postwar period, driven largely by wartime metal economics that had disrupted pre-existing alloy supplies throughout the empire.