500 Dobras

The 500 Dobras was among the first issues of the newly established Banco Nacional de S. Tomé e Príncipe, following independence from Portugal in July 1975. Bradbury Wilkinson — by then a subsidiary of American Bank Note Company — handled much of the anglophone and post-colonial world's currency printing in this period, and Sao Tome's early dobra series was a typical commission from a government building monetary infrastructure almost from scratch.

The dobra itself replaced the escudo at par upon independence. Watermark security was modest for the era, reflecting both budget constraints and the relatively low denomination risk on an island nation with a tiny circulation pool.