1000 Escudos 1st. print

Banco de Portugal turned to Bradbury Wilkinson for this high-denomination issue at a moment when Portuguese public finances were in serious disorder — postwar inflation and the costs of participation in the First World War had severely strained the escudo. A 1000 escudo note was not everyday tender; it circulated primarily in commercial and institutional transactions.

Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work on Portuguese issues of this period is generally fine, and the 1st print designation matters here: subsequent printings introduced minor plate modifications, making print identification relevant for serious collectors of this series.