Catalog
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| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green on multicolour underprint. The national arms appear at right, with a blue circular seal type III at bottom centre. Guilloche patterning frames the design elements against a structured multicolour underprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO EM S. TIAGO CINCOENTA CENTAVOS MOEDA CORRENTE LISBOA, 5 de Novembro de 1914. (Translation: National Bank Overseas in S. Tiago Fifty Cents in currency Lisbon, November 5, 1914.) |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino's 50 Centavos fractional notes of 1914 were a direct response to wartime coin shortages — Portugal's entry into the broader conflict of the First World War created acute hoarding of silver and bronze, and small-denomination paper had to fill the gap. The "seal type III" designation reflects successive overprinting campaigns used to extend the note's authorized circulation period, a common BNU practice that can make precise dating of individual examples genuinely complicated.
Bradbury Wilkinson's involvement gives the note a higher baseline of print quality than contemporary Portuguese metropolitan issues. The firm's intaglio work was considered among the most forgery-resistant available to colonial issuers at the time.