Catalog
50 Centavos
| Issuer | São Tomé and Príncipe |
|---|---|
| Year | 1962 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.95 g |
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| Obverse description | The Portuguese armillary sphere overlaid with the crowned national shield of Portugal occupies the central field, rendered in high relief. The shield displays the traditional quinas and castles of the Portuguese royal arms, while the armillary sphere's meridian bands frame the composition. A mural crown surmounts the upper arc of the sphere. The peripheral legend reads 'S. TOMÉ·E·PRÍNCIPE' along the upper arc, with the date '1962' positioned in the lower field, all enclosed within a beaded border. |
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| Obverse lettering | S. TOMÉ·E·PRÍNCIPE 1962 |
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| Additional information |
São Tomé and Príncipe's colonial coinage was administered under Portuguese authority through the Junta da Moeda, with pieces struck in Lisbon for circulation on islands whose combined population barely exceeded 60,000 at the time. This issue arrived just three years before the outbreak of organized independence agitation, and within fifteen years the archipelago had become one of Africa's first post-colonial single-party Marxist states — making Portuguese-era bronzes a hard terminus on a very short series.