20 Escudos Salazar Bridge, Pattern

The Salazar Bridge opened in August 1966 — at the time, the longest suspension bridge in Europe — and Portugal immediately issued commemorative coinage to mark it. This piece is a pattern strike, meaning it never reached circulation; the approved circulating commemorative was struck in a different composition. Pattern issues from Casa da Moeda in this period were produced in extremely limited numbers, primarily for archival purposes and ministerial presentation.

The bridge itself was renamed Ponte 25 de Abril after the Carnation Revolution of 1974, the date of the coup that ended 48 years of Estado Novo rule.