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!
20 Centavos Arcos de Valdevez
| Issuer | Hospital de S. José, Arcos de Valdevez |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917-1922 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | VALE 20 CENTAVOS SE ÉS AMIGO DO BEM INUTILISA ESTA CÉDULA (Translation: Worth 20 Cents If you are a friend of good, make this note useless.) |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Hospital de S. José in Arcos de Valdevez was among the many Portuguese charitable institutions authorized to issue small-denomination cédulas during the severe coin shortage that gripped Portugal in the late 1910s. The shortage was a direct consequence of wartime hoarding and the disappearance of bronze and copper from circulation — metals diverted to the war effort after Portugal entered the First World War in 1916. Hospitals, municipal councils, and even private firms filled the vacuum with emergency paper.
The watermarked paper distinguishes this cédula from cruder local emissions of the same period, suggesting procurement from a commercial stationer rather than purely improvised production. Many of these institutional notes were never formally redeemed once the coin supply normalized.