Catalog
50 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Printer | Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, United Kingdom (1856-1990) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO PROVINCIA DE CABO VERDE CINCOENTA ESCUDOS PAGAVEL NAS DEPENDENCIAS DA PROVINCIA DE CABO VERDE LISBOA, 1 de Agosto de 1941 (Translation: National Bank Overseas Province of Cape Verde Fifty Escudos Payable on dependences of Province of Cape Verde Lisbon, August 1st., 1941) |
| Reverse description | Red on multicolour guilloche underprint. A central oval vignette encloses a seated allegorical female figure holding a ship's model, flanked by the denomination numeral '50' on both left and right. A curved arc of fine letterpress text carries the bank name around the upper border of the vignette, with a rectangular overprint panel at top centre inscribed with the provincial designation. |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino functioned not as a typical central bank but as a privileged colonial issuing house, holding note-issuing rights across Portugal's overseas territories simultaneously — Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese India, Timor, and others — with each territory receiving its own overprinted or dedicated series. This 1941 issue predates the post-war reorganization that would eventually split issuing authority along cleaner territorial lines.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work for colonial issuers of this period was among the finest available, and BNU returned to them repeatedly through the mid-century. P#39 is one of the scarcer denominations from this run; wartime shipping and disrupted distribution to some territories left portions of certain print orders unissued.