Catalog
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Real (18th century-1914) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green and light olive intaglio-printed note with the bank title in a central cartouche at top, flanked by guilloche borders and denominational numerals '1000' at left and right margins. A circular red seal of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Filial em Loanda, with a sailing ship vignette, appears to the right of centre. The Portuguese National Arms are visible at upper right, with the place and date of issue 'LISBOA, 1 de Março de 1909' printed in the lower field above three manuscript signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | PAGAVEL NA FILIAL EM LOANDA BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO (Translation: Payable in the Luanda Branch, National Overseas Bank) |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino was the Portuguese colonial bank of issue, and by 1909 it was circulating notes across multiple territories simultaneously — Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Portuguese India, and others — with the same plates sometimes serving more than one colony depending on overprint or place-of-payment designation. Pick 27 falls within the Mozambique-issued series, though BNU's administrative practice of recycling plate designs across territories can create attribution ambiguity in poorly documented examples.
Bradbury Wilkinson had been BNU's preferred security printer for decades, a relationship that persisted well into the twentieth century. Their intaglio work for colonial issuers was consistently fine — though what makes or breaks a P27 in practice is usually the manuscript date and signature combination, both completed by hand at the time of issue.