Catalog
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| Issuer | Banco de Portugal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Printing of the Bank of Portugal (Estamparia do Banco de Portugal), Lisbon, Portugal |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| 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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| Protection description | Banco de Portugal |
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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.