1000 Pesos

Guiné-Bissau declared independence from Portugal in 1974, but the new state initially continued using the Cape Verdean escudo as a transitional currency while its own institutions took shape. The Banco Nacional da Guiné-Bissau was established to assert full monetary control, and this 1978 series — printed by Bradbury Wilkinson at their New Malden facility — represented the first substantive domestic currency infrastructure for one of the world's smallest and poorest nations at the time.

Bradbury Wilkinson's involvement is notable: the firm had a long record printing for newly independent African states during the 1960s and 1970s, often providing the entire security printing package on short commercial contracts. The watermark is the sole mechanical security feature on this note — a limitation that reflected budget constraints rather than any oversight.