10 Escudos Prova

The Banco Nacional Ultramarino issued currency for Portuguese colonial territories, and prova pieces — struck as official presentation or approval specimens — were a routine part of that process, never intended for general release. This 1936 silver prova would have been submitted for authorization before any circulation coinage was approved, making survivors institutional rather than commercial objects. Population figures are essentially unknowable; most provas of this issuer and period exist in single-digit quantities.