10 Escudos

Portugal's postwar silver coinage was caught in a slow institutional squeeze throughout the 1950s — rising silver prices were steadily making .680 fine pieces economically unworkable, and this two-year run of the 10 Escudos effectively marked the end of silver in everyday Portuguese circulation. The type was discontinued after 1955, replaced eventually by base metal alternatives as the Estado Novo government quietly abandoned any pretense of metallic parity.