Catalog
50 Avos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Avos |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in orange-brown, the reverse is dominated by a large oval guilloche frame enclosing a central circular medallion bearing the numeral 50 and the inscription AVOS. Ornate lathe-work patterns fill the oval field, and Chinese characters appear both above and below the central design. The issuer's name and territorial designation run along the upper arc of the oval, with additional Chinese text forming a lower border inscription. |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO MACÁU CINCOENTA AVOS 伍毫 澳門大西洋國海外銀行 50 AVOS |
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| Comments |
The Banco Nacional Ultramarino's wartime Macau issues occupy an odd corner of colonial monetary history. By 1942, Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation, yet this note was printed there — almost certainly completed before the December 1941 fall of the colony, with the notes subsequently held or transferred to Macau for release during the occupation period.
Macau itself remained nominally Portuguese and neutral throughout the Pacific War, a precarious status that kept it functioning as a financial outlier while every neighboring territory was absorbed into the Japanese sphere. The 50 Avos was a low-denomination workhorse in that environment.