Catalog
10 Libras
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
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| Value | 10 Libras |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Blue and multicolour note with the bank title 'BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO' across the top in a prominent cartouche. At centre-left, the Portuguese royal arms vignette is flanked by ornate guilloche borders, with the denomination '£10' in red at lower left and repeated numerals '10' in oval frames at lower right. A circular red seal of the Lourenço Marques branch, incorporating a ship vignette, appears at lower centre, above the signatures of the Gerente and Vice-Governador, with the issue date 'Lisboa, 1 de Março de 1909' inscribed below the central text. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO O THESOUREIRO DA FILIAL EM LOURENÇO MARQUES PAGARÁ Á VISTA AO PORTADOR DEZ LIBRAS ESTERLINAS OURO LISBOA 1 DE MARÇO DE 1909 O GERENTE O GOVERNADOR O VICE-GOVERNADOR |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied a peculiar institutional position — chartered in Lisbon but functioning as the note-issuing authority across Portugal's overseas territories, from Mozambique and Angola to Timor and beyond. Establishing which territory this specific issue was intended for requires checking the place of payment text carefully, as BNU produced near-identical designs for multiple colonies simultaneously, differing only in the territorial designation.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work of this period was among the finest commercially available, and colonial issuers across several empires relied on them precisely because the quality acted as a deterrent to local forgery.