10 Avos S.A.R. Coinage, Macau's Return to China

Minted in the final year of Portuguese administration, this issue coincides with the handover of Macau to China on 20 December 1999 — the last European colonial territory returned on Asian soil. Portugal had administered Macau since the 1550s, making the transfer the conclusion of over four centuries of presence. The Monetary and Economic Affairs Bureau continued issuing pataca coinage through the transition, and circulation pieces from 1999 struck before the handover sat in pockets alongside those produced after — an unremarked overlap that the coins themselves cannot distinguish.