Catalog
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| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1967 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, United Kingdom (1856-1990) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Purple on multicolour underprint. Central vignette of the Mozambique colonial arms with scroll and supporters, flanked by denomination numerals '500' at each corner. Bank title 'BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO' in bold letterpress across lower portion; top border bears the legend 'PAGAVEL NA PROVINCIA DE MOCAMBIQUE'. Circular blind stamp at left. |
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| Protection description | a portrait head visible when held to light. |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino occupied an unusual position in Portuguese colonial finance — it functioned simultaneously as a commercial bank and as the sole note-issuing authority across multiple overseas territories, including Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Portuguese Guinea. This 500 Escudos note was issued under that mandate, with Bradbury Wilkinson handling the intaglio work from their New Malden facility in Surrey, where they printed currency for colonial administrations across the British and Portuguese empires alike.
By 1967, Angola in particular was three years into the colonial war that would eventually outlast Portuguese rule itself. Notes of this denomination circulated alongside a wartime economy the colonial government was determined to present as stable.