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20 Centavos Casa da Moeda
| Issuer | Casa da Moeda de Portugal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 100 × 65 mm |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central vignette shows a Portuguese caravel under full sail on open seas against a rising sun, evoking the Age of Discovery. At left stands an allegorical female figure of the Republic in classical robes, holding a shield bearing the Portuguese cross and a raised torch, with the national arms on a pedestal at lower left. At right, within a circular cartouche, two kneeling mariners are engaged in celestial navigation, the entire composition enclosed within a dense intaglio border with denomination numerals '20' in ornamental roundels at upper left and right corners. |
| Reverse lettering | REPÚBLICA PORTUGUESA 20 20 VINTE CENTAVOS (Translation: PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC 20 20 TWENTY CENTAVOS) |
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| Comments |
Portugal's post-WWI austerity pushed the treasury into fractional paper — coin shortages were severe enough by the early 1920s that the Casa da Moeda began issuing low-denomination cédulas to fill the gap left by hoarded bronze and cupro-nickel. These 20 centavos pieces circulated alongside similar emergency issues from municipal authorities and other parastate bodies, creating a chaotic patchwork of small-change paper that the public tolerated but never trusted.
The engraving credit to Viçoso & Moratalla is the genuinely interesting detail here — a Spanish-Portuguese partnership working inside the Lisbon mint, unusual enough to suggest subcontracted plate work rather than in-house production.