Catalog
100 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
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| Reference(s) | P#45 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red, the reverse is dominated by a central oval vignette containing an allegorical female figure seated before a square-rigged sailing vessel at sea, rendered in fine intaglio engraving. The bank title BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO spans the full width in bold letterpress above the vignette, flanked by the numeral 100 in large format on each side, all enclosed within an elaborate guilloche border. The printer's imprint appears in small text at the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | PAGÁVEL NA COLÓNIA DE CABO VERDE BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO (Translation: Payable in Colony of Cape Verde National Bank Overseas) |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional Ultramarino was Portugal's colonial banking arm, chartered in 1864 to operate across the overseas territories rather than metropolitan Portugal. By 1945 it was issuing currency for multiple colonies simultaneously under broadly similar series designs — the same Bradbury Wilkinson plant in New Malden produced notes for Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Portuguese Guinea in overlapping periods, often from closely related plate work.
Without a confirmed territory of issue attached to P#45, the specific circulation story remains difficult to pin down. Bradbury Wilkinson's wartime and immediate postwar output for colonial issuers was extensive, and notes from this period often show slightly uneven inking on the back due to paper supply constraints affecting print runs across 1944–46.