10 Avos

The Banco Nacional Ultramarino issued this note for circulation in Timor, its easternmost colonial territory. That it was printed in Hong Kong in 1942 is the detail worth pausing on — Hong Kong fell to Japanese forces in December 1941, meaning production almost certainly occurred before the occupation or, if dated to late 1942, under circumstances that remain difficult to reconstruct with confidence. The practical supply chain for colonial small denomination notes in wartime Southeast Asia was routinely disrupted, and Timor itself was under Japanese occupation by February 1942.

The Avos denominations of this series are notoriously short-lived in collectible condition due to the weight of small daily transactions in a largely cash-dependent colonial economy.