Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Libra
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
| Type | Specimen |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in brown on plain paper, the reverse is centred on a large oval guilloche panel bearing the denomination 'UMA LIBRA ESTERLINA OURO' in bold lettering, enclosed within intricate lathe-work and fine engine-turned geometric patterns characteristic of Bradbury Wilkinson intaglio engraving. The inscriptions 'PAGAVEL NA FILIALA EM' and 'LOURENÇO MARQUES' appear in the upper and lower margins respectively, in restrained letterpress against an otherwise unadorned background. |
| Reverse lettering | PAGAVEL NA FILIALA EM LOURENÇO MARQUES UMA LIBRA ESTERLINA OURO |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied a peculiar institutional position — chartered in Lisbon but functioning as the effective central bank across Portuguese overseas territories, issuing currency in denominations calibrated to local commercial practice rather than metropolitan standards. The libra unit here reflects the East African trading environment of Moçambique, where British sterling influence on trade pricing made libra-denominated notes a practical necessity rather than an ideological choice.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced this at their New Malden works, and their intaglio printing for colonial issuers of this period is generally well-executed — the BNU series of 1909 being no exception technically, though the notes saw hard use in port and transit commerce.