100 Escudos

The Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it held note-issuing authority not for Portugal itself but for its overseas territories, a mandate it exercised across multiple colonies simultaneously with distinct series for each. This particular issue predates the significant redesigns that followed World War II, placing it in a period when the bank's relationship with Lisbon was being quietly renegotiated amid broader Salazarist economic centralization.

Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work from this period is technically accomplished. The London firm produced colonial currency for dozens of issuing authorities through the mid-twentieth century, and their printing quality is generally consistent — which makes attribution errors in the catalog rare but not impossible for this series.