50 000 Reis

Banco Nacional Ultramarino was Portugal's designated issuing bank for its overseas territories, but this particular note — denominated in the old *reis* system — was issued for metropolitan Angola before the escudo replaced the reis structure in the following decade. By 1909, Bradbury Wilkinson had already established a strong reputation for colonial currency work across British and Portuguese Africa, and their intaglio printing held up well under tropical humidity that destroyed lesser paper issues.

At 50,000 reis, this represents the highest practical denomination of everyday commercial use in Angola at the time. Notes from this BNU series are genuinely scarce in any grade — circulation in Luanda was hard on paper, and few were preserved after the currency transition rendered them obsolete.