50 Escudos Vasco da Gama

Issued to mark the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's birth, this coin was struck under the Estado Novo regime at a moment when Portugal was simultaneously celebrating its imperial past and fighting three colonial wars in Africa. The anniversary gave the Salazar government — Caetano had just taken over in September 1968 — a convenient vehicle for nationalist pageantry while the escudo itself was under increasing fiscal pressure from military expenditure.

The .650 silver fineness reflects a gradual degradation from earlier Portuguese commemorative silver, which had typically run at .835 or higher.