Catalog
1000 Reis Bolama seal
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
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| Printer | Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, United Kingdom (1856-1990) |
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| Obverse description | Green on multicolour underprint. Text body carries the full obligation legend in Portuguese with the date "1 DE MARÇO DE 1909", flanked by guilloche ornaments. A red Type I Bolama agency seal at right incorporates a steamship vignette, while the colonial arms appear at upper right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in dark blue-green on pale paper. A central oval vignette, bordered by the circular legend "BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO", encloses an allegorical seated female figure gazing toward a harbour scene with a sailing vessel and a steamship. The denomination "1000" is lettered in large numerals at left and right within dense guilloche latticework panels, and a rectangular green overprint panel at top centre reads "PAGAVEL NA AGENCIA DE BOLAMA". The printer's imprint "BRADBURY WILKINSON & C.ᵒ GRAVADORES LONDRES" appears at the bottom margin. |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino had been issuing notes for Portuguese overseas territories since 1865, but Guinea was a late addition to that portfolio. This 1000 Reis note was the first catalogued issue for Portuguese Guinea — hence Pick 1 — and was produced by Bradbury Wilkinson in London, whose engraving work at this period was among the finest commercially available. The "Bolama seal" designation refers to the administrative stamp identifying Bolama, then the colonial capital, distinguishing this issue from BNU notes for other territories printed from similar or shared base designs.
Bolama lost its capital status to Bissau in 1941, a bureaucratic shift that makes the geographic marker on this note quietly historical.