5 Avos Banco Nacional Ultramarino

Banco Nacional Ultramarino's tiny 1920 fractional notes for Macau were a direct response to acute small-change shortages that plagued Portuguese colonial territories in the aftermath of the First World War. Metal was scarce, subsidiary coinage had effectively dried up, and emergency paper in very low denominations was the practical stopgap. The Hongkong Printing Press — a commercial operation serving the colony's routine printing needs — was the pragmatic local choice rather than any prestige European security printer.

At 84 × 46 mm, this is among the smallest-format notes the BNU produced for any territory. Survival rates are poor; notes this small and low-denomination were used hard, pocketed loose, and rarely preserved.