50 Escudos

This note marks the first independent currency issue of São Tomé and Príncipe, which became sovereign in July 1975 after five centuries of Portuguese rule. The newly established Banco Nacional commissioned Bradbury Wilkinson — a standard choice for anglophone and newly independent states in this period — to produce the series, a decision that reflected both the limited printing infrastructure available to the new government and the British firm's deep experience supplying post-colonial African states.

The escudo denomination survived independence only briefly. A 1977 monetary reform replaced it with the dobra, making this 1976 series one of the shortest-lived sovereign currency issues on the African continent.