50 Centavos

Portugal's colonial coinage for Angola underwent a quiet but deliberate material shift in the early 1970s, with several denominations converted from bronze to copper-nickel as metropolitan budgets tightened and raw material costs climbed. This 1974 issue arrived just months before the Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974 ended nearly five decades of Estado Novo rule and set Angola on the path to independence in November 1975. Coins bearing Portuguese colonial authority struck this late in the relationship are inherently terminal issues — production ceased before the full mintage could ever reach wide circulation.