Catalog
500 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#35B |
| Obverse description | Printed in violet on plain cream paper stock, this cheque-format emergency issue bears the Banco Nacional Ultramarino steamship vignette at left, with the denomination 500$00 and a full bearer-order text arranged across the face. Two strikes of a double blue rectangular handstamp reading NULO cancel the instrument across the printed surface. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted reverse in cream-toned paper, showing show-through impressions from the obverse text and denomination; an embossed blind seal of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino is impressed directly into the paper stock at lower left. |
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| Comments |
Bradbury, Wilkinson printed this note for Banco Nacional Ultramarino, the Lisbon-based colonial bank that held note-issuing rights across Portugal's overseas territories. The specific territory this note was intended for matters: BNU operated parallel series for Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Portuguese India, and others, each with distinct overprints or engraving variants, and P#35B falls within the Mozambique series.
By 1947, Mozambique's wartime economic disruption had eased, but inflationary pressure on the escudo kept high-denomination notes in active commercial use rather than in savings. The 500 escudo value was substantial enough that these notes passed through relatively few hands — which works in favor of survivors today.