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20 000 Réis 9th. print - overprint 'REPÚBLICA'
| Issuer | Banco de Portugal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 20 000 Réis (20 000) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Blue intaglio print on tan guilloche underprint. Bust portrait vignette of Vasco da Gama at left and Luís de Camões at right, with the Coat of Arms of Portugal at lower center. A typographed overprint reading 'REPÚBLICA' is applied over the royal coat of arms, denoting the issue's conversion to Republican currency; this is the ninth printing (Chapa 9). |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Brown intaglio print. An allegorical female figure appears at left, with the god Mercury at right. The crowned coat of arms of the Kingdom of Portugal, retained from the original monarchical design, is partially obscured by a typographed 'REPÚBLICA' overprint at left, affirming the note's Republican revalidation. |
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| Comments |
When the Portuguese monarchy fell in October 1910, the Banco de Portugal faced an immediate practical problem: millions of réis in circulating notes bore the iconography of the deposed regime. Rather than undertake a full reprint, the bank applied a simple "REPÚBLICA" overprint to existing stock from the 9th print run — a stopgap that kept the currency system functioning during the political transition without the delay of designing and producing entirely new plates.
The overprint series spans several denominations, and P#109 is among the higher-value pieces in that group. Notes that saw heavy circulation through 1912 and beyond often show the overprint unevenly struck — a consequence of in-house application at the Estamparia rather than a controlled commercial press run.