Catalog
2500 Réis
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (c. 1460–1524), the first European to reach India by sea, set against a background incorporating sailing ships. The design is executed in intaglio with fine guilloche underprint work framing the central portrait. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO O THESOUREIRO DA FILIAL EM LOANDA PAGARÁ Á VISTA AO PORTADOR DOIS MIL E QUINHENTOS REIS EM MOEDA CORRENTE VALOR RECEBIDO (Translation: National Overseas Bank, The Branch Treasurer in Luanda, Will pay the holder on sight two thousand five hundred réis in current currency) |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino, chartered in Lisbon in 1864, operated as the note-issuing authority across Portuguese overseas territories well into the twentieth century — but which territory this particular 2500 Réis issue served is worth pinning down, since BNU simultaneously maintained separate note series for Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé, Timor, and others, often using closely related Bradbury Wilkinson plates that are easily conflated in collections.
Bradbury Wilkinson had a long relationship with Portuguese colonial issuers by 1909, and their intaglio work for BNU is generally fine. The réis denomination system itself was abolished in mainland Portugal in 1911 with the republic's monetary reforms, making this a late-series colonial survival of a unit already dying at home.