50 Escudos 6th. print, 1st. type

Bradbury Wilkinson had been supplying Portugal with engraved currency since the 1920s, and this note falls within a long-running 50 Escudos series that extended across multiple print runs through the late 1930s. By the sixth printing in 1938, the Estado Novo regime under Salazar had been consolidating its economic grip for nearly a decade — the Banco de Portugal was effectively an instrument of state policy, and the choice to continue with a London engraver rather than develop domestic printing capacity was a deliberate signal of financial orthodoxy and international credibility.

The watermark remains the sole mechanical security feature, consistent across all printings of this type.