2 Centavos Monforte

Portuguese municipal cédulas of this type were a direct consequence of the chronic small-change shortage that plagued the First Republic throughout the early 1920s. The Banco de Portugal simply could not keep fractional coinage in circulation — coins were hoarded or melted — so local authorities across the country were authorized to issue their own emergency paper. Monforte, a small administrative seat in the Alentejo interior, was among dozens of câmaras municipais that exercised this right.

These hyper-local emissions were produced in small quantities, redeemable only within the issuing municipality, and typically withdrawn once the national coinage situation stabilized mid-decade. Survival rates vary enormously by locality.