2.50 Escudos

Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it held a monopoly on note issue across multiple overseas territories simultaneously, meaning the same institution was managing currency for Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and others at once. This particular denomination, 2.50 Escudos, reflects the awkward transitional arithmetic that followed Portugal's 1911 switch from the Réis system, where 1 Escudo replaced 1,000 Réis. Fractional values like 2.50 persisted because everyday prices hadn't yet rationalized around the new unit.

Thomas De La Rue handled the printing, as they did for much of BNU's colonial output in this period.