10 Centavos

São Tomé and Príncipe's aluminium issues of 1971 replaced an earlier bronze series as Portugal sought to reduce production costs across its overseas territories in the final years of colonial administration. The switch to aluminium was part of a broader rationalisation applied simultaneously to several Portuguese African possessions, not a decision specific to this archipelago.

The colony gained independence in 1975, making this one of the last coinage types struck under Portuguese authority for the islands.