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4 Moedas = 19.200 Reis
| Issuer | Banco de Lisboa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1836 |
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| Value | 4 Moedas |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is laid out in a traditional early nineteenth-century Portuguese bank-note style, with the issuer's name 'Banco de Lisboa' rendered in elaborate copperplate script at the top centre, flanked on the upper left by a classical vignette of a winged putto or allegorical figure in flight. The denomination '4 Moedas / Rs. 19$200' appears in a panel at the upper right, and a second allegorical vignette of a cherub is centred in the lower portion of the note. The serial number appears twice in the lower field, and at the lower left a bold rectangular panel carries the word 'Quatro' in large letterpress type. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, showing the plain aged cotton paper with show-through of the obverse text and vignettes visible in mirror image, characteristic of early hand-press Portuguese note production. The surface presents a uniform warm cream tone with no deliberate design elements, border, or overprint. |
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| Comments |
The Banco de Lisboa was Portugal's first joint-stock bank, established in 1821, and by 1836 it held a near-monopoly on note issuance in the kingdom. The denomination here — expressed in both moedas and réis simultaneously — reflects the transitional arithmetic of Portuguese currency at the time, when older gold moeda accounting still ran parallel to the réis system in everyday commerce and bookkeeping.
The bank lost its note-issuing privilege in 1846 when it merged with the Companhia Confiança Nacional to form the Banco de Portugal. Notes from this final decade of independent operation are genuinely scarce; survival rates are low given cotton paper's vulnerability to the damp Lisbon climate and the near-total redemption drives that followed the merger.