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10 Centavos Arcos de Valdevez
| Issuer | Hospital de S. José, Arcos de Valdevez |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917-1922 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 95 × 67 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The central vignette occupies most of the face and portrays an allegorical scene of a seated woman in classical dress attended by two young children, one kneeling before her and one seated beside her on stone steps, all rendered in blue line engraving. A circular cartouche at the upper right bears the denomination '10 CENTAVOS'. The outer border repeats the rosette and geometric guilloche ornament of the obverse, and a faint underprint of the municipal stamp is visible through the design. |
| Reverse lettering | VALE 10 CENTAVOS SE ÉS AMIGO DO BEM INUTILISA ESTA CÉDULA (Translation: VALUE 10 CENTAVOS IF YOU ARE A FRIEND OF GOOD, MAKE THIS NOTE USELESS) |
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| Comments |
Hospital de S. José in Arcos de Valdevez was among dozens of Portuguese institutions — municipal chambers, charities, commercial associations — that issued their own cédulas during the acute small change shortage that gripped Portugal from around 1917 onward. The crisis followed wartime metal demands, with bronze and cupro-nickel coins effectively disappearing from circulation. Local institutions stepped in by printing their own fractional paper, technically unauthorized but tacitly tolerated by Lisbon until the shortage eased.
A hospital issuing currency is the detail worth pausing on. These were not banking entities — the notes functioned as scrip redeemable locally, and their acceptance depended entirely on community trust in the institution behind them.