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500 Escudos
| Issuer | Banco de Angola |
|---|---|
| Year | 1956 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Escudos |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Portrait of explorer Roberto Ivens in intaglio engraving occupies the left vignette, identified by name inscription below. The central and right portion of the note presents an aerial vignette of the Port of Luanda (labeled PORTO DE LUANDA), with a navigational column at right. The Portuguese royal coat of arms appears at top center, flanked by the denomination numeral 500 in both upper corners, with guilloche patterned borders framing the composition. The date 15 DE AGOSTO DE 1956 and decree reference are inscribed across the upper portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | BANCO DE ANGOLA 500 QUINHENTOS ESCUDOS THOMAS DE LA RUE & CO. LTD. LONDRES INGLATERRA (Translation: Bank of Angola / 500 / Five Hundred Escudos / Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd. London England) |
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| Comments |
By 1956, Angola was a Portuguese Overseas Province rather than a colony in the formal sense — a constitutional reclassification that had real consequences for its banking institutions and the notes they issued. The Banco de Angola had been reconstituted in 1926 and held the exclusive right of issue, operating as a private institution under Lisbon's oversight rather than as a direct arm of the colonial state.
Thomas De La Rue produced this series to a high standard of intaglio printing, as was routine for their Portuguese African contracts of the period. The 500 Escudos was the top denomination in the P#90 series, which limits surviving circulated examples — high-value notes in colonial Angola often moved through fewer hands but were more prone to institutional destruction after demonetization.