Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
2 Centavos
| Issuer | Associação Comercial e Industrial de Espinho |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Centavos (0.02 PTE) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in brown on white paper, the obverse carries an allegorical Art Nouveau composition with two female figures flanking a central denomination tablet inscribed VALE 2 cts.: a kneeling figure to the left holds a staff and rests beside an anchor, while a seated figure to the right is associated with a spoked wheel, both set against a foliate underprint background. The issuer's name ASSOCIAÇÃO COMERCIAL E INDUSTRIAL DE ESPINHO appears in a bold rectangular panel across the top, with a stamped serial number centred between the two figures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in brown on white paper, the reverse is dominated by a dense guilloche lattice underprint covering the entire field within a plain ruled border. A central oval vignette contains a seated allegorical figure holding what appears to be a book or tablet, rendered in a classical style. The denomination panel VALE 2 CENTAVOS is split across the left and right sides of the vignette, with the date inscription SETEMBRO DE 1920 in a cartouche at the lower left. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Espinho's Associação Comercial e Industrial was one of dozens of Portuguese commercial associations that filled the small-denomination vacuum left by the chronic coin shortage of the late 1910s and early 1920s. The national government's inability to maintain bronze and cupro-nickel coinage in circulation — driven by metal hoarding, wartime disruption, and postwar inflation — pushed the burden of fractional currency onto local chambers, municipal bodies, and private associations throughout Portugal and its territories.
These emergency cédulas were authorized under legislation permitting licensed commercial entities to issue low-value paper. Espinho, a small Atlantic fishing and resort town south of Porto, was an unlikely issuer — which is precisely why surviving examples from this association are harder to locate than comparable notes from Lisbon or Porto.