Catalog
1000 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1974 |
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| Currency | Escudo (1914-1974) |
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| Obverse description | A cheque-format emergency currency issue by Banco Nacional Ultramarino, dated S. Tomé, 31 de Dezembro de 1974, with the bank's circular seal vignette at the left margin listing branch territories including Africa, China, India, and Timor. The central text field contains a handwritten-style order to pay one thousand escudos to the bearer, with the denomination MIL ESCUDOS underlined, and a large diagonal red overprint reading ORIGINAL across the face. The upper right carries the denomination Esc. = 1.000$00, with a manuscript signature and a P.P. Banco Nacional Ultramarino endorsement stamp at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO SEDE EM LISBOA CHEQUE Nº U-SÉRIE C ESC.=1.000$00= S. TOMÉ, 31 DE DEZEMBRO DE 1974 PAGUE CONTRA ESTE ORIGINAL DE CHEQUE (NÃO O TENDO FEITO PELO DUPLICADO) À ORDEM DE PORTADOR A QUANTIA DE MIL ESCUDOS P.P. BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO ORIGINAL |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional Ultramarino's 1000 Escudos of 1974 was printed by Thomas De La Rue just as Portugal's colonial architecture was beginning to collapse. The Carnation Revolution of April 1974 ended Estado Novo rule and triggered the rapid decolonization of Portuguese Africa — Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau — territories where the BNU had functioned as the de facto central bank for decades. Notes of this series were still entering circulation when the political situation made their long-term viability uncertain.
The BNU's currency-issuing role in the overseas territories was wound down within a few years of independence, making late-dated high denominations like this one transitional issues in the most literal sense.