Catalog
50 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#44 |
| Obverse description | Blue-tinted note with a portrait vignette of the explorer Bartolomeu Dias at right, the Banco Nacional Ultramarino seal at left, and the Portuguese Coat of Arms at lower center. The design is framed with fine guilloche border work typical of Bradbury Wilkinson engraving. Denomination and issuing authority inscriptions appear across the face, with the date and decree number rendered in letterpress. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO DECRETO No. 17.154 CABO VERDE COLÓNIA PORTUGUESA CINQUENTA ESCUDOS LISBOA, 16 de NOVEMBRO de 1945. BARTOLOMEU DIAS (Translation: National Bank Overseas Decree no. 17,154 Cape Verde Portuguese Colony Fifty Escudos Lisbon, November 16, 1945.) |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it was a private institution holding the note-issuing monopoly across multiple overseas territories simultaneously, a concentration of monetary authority that had few parallels in European colonial banking. The P#44 series was issued for Portuguese Guinea, where the economic base was thin and note demand correspondingly low, meaning print runs were modest and surviving examples in any condition are genuinely uncommon.
Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility was the default choice for quality colonial currency throughout the British Commonwealth and beyond — their intaglio work was among the finest available, and their security features were sufficiently trusted that rival colonial powers regularly contracted them.