10 Patacas

Banco Nacional Ultramarino held the note-issuing concession for Portuguese Macau throughout the colonial period, and this 1945 issue appeared while the territory was still navigating the extraordinary pressures of the Second World War. Macau remained technically neutral under Portuguese administration, but the Japanese occupation of surrounding Guangdong and Hong Kong made that neutrality deeply precarious — the territory was flooded with refugees and its economy strained well beyond normal limits.

Waterlow & Sons printed the series in London, though wartime logistics made delivery uncertain. The two signature combinations reflect successive administrations of the issuing bank rather than separate print runs.