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50 Avos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pataca (1894-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in purple and violet on a light guilloche underprint, with the bank name BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO in a central curved banner vignette surmounted by the Portuguese armillary sphere emblem. The denomination CINCOENTA AVOS appears in a central rectangular panel flanked by Chinese characters (伍毫) in each corner, with a green circular underprint vignette reading 50 AVOS at lower left. Serial numbers appear twice in the upper margin, and the GERENTE title with a manuscript signature is present at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in red, with an intricate symmetrical guilloche pattern composed of two large rosette medallions flanking a central circular vignette bearing the numeral 50 and the inscription AVOS. Chinese characters (伍毫) appear on either side, and the full bank name in Chinese script runs along the bottom margin. The issuer name BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO and denomination CINCOENTA AVOS are repeated in a curved legend at the top. |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional Ultramarino, a Lisbon-based colonial bank with note-issuing authority across multiple Portuguese territories, produced this 50 Avos for circulation in Timor — one of its more remote and economically marginal outposts. The Avo denominations filled a practical gap: the territory's trade economy ran on very small transactions, and Portuguese metropolitan coinage rarely made it this far in sufficient quantities.
The Nourse Printing Press attribution is unusual enough to warrant caution — this printer appears in very few colonial currency records, and documentation on its exact role in the 1920 Timor issues remains thin.