50 Escudos

Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in July 1975, and the Banco de Cabo Verde was established almost immediately to replace the colonial escudo with a national currency — one of the first concrete institutional acts of the new PAIGC-led government. These 50 Escudos pieces belong to the inaugural coin series, issued before the country had developed any domestic minting capacity, with production contracted to foreign facilities.

The series was short-lived; economic reforms and currency revaluations in the 1980s retired these early issues relatively quickly from circulation.