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50 000 Reis Bolama seal
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO O THESOUREIRO DA AGENCIA DE BOLAMA PAGARÁ Á VISTA A PORTADOR CINCOENTA MIL RÉIS EM MOEDA CORRENTE VALOR RECIBIDO LISBOA, I DE MARÇO DE 1909. (Translation: National Bank Overseas the Treasurer of the Agency of Bolama pay to the bearer Fifty Thousand Reis in currency amount received Lisbon, March 1, 1909.) |
| Reverse description | Green on multicolour underprint with yellow and orange oval guilloche centre. A central circular vignette, inscribed BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO around its border, encloses an allegorical seated female figure with a sailing ship in the background. Bold numeral "50" appears in yellow at both left and right flanking the central medallion, above the printer's imprint at lower centre. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional Ultramarino served as the colonial note-issuing authority across Portugal's overseas territories, and this 50,000 Reis note is distinguished by its Bolama seal — the administrative capital of Portuguese Guinea at the time, a posting so remote and commercially thin that notes assigned there circulated in tiny numbers. Bradbury Wilkinson produced the series in London, as they did for a substantial portion of Portuguese colonial paper across this period.
The Reis denomination itself was already obsolete currency doctrine by 1909; Portugal had been running parallel escudo planning for years and would formally convert in 1911. Notes at this face value were effectively large-denomination instruments in a territory with almost no banking infrastructure to absorb them.