50 Centavos Prova

Portuguese prova pieces of this period were internal mint trials produced by the Casa da Moeda to test dies and blanks before authorizing full production runs. They were not distributed through normal channels and rarely left official hands. The 1968 date places this squarely in the late Salazar period — the Estado Novo regime was entering its final years, with Salazar suffering a debilitating stroke just months later in September 1968, after which Marcelo Caetano assumed power.

Survival numbers for KM#Pr39 are genuinely low. Most prova pieces of this era exist in quantities of a few dozen at most.