500 Escudos

By 1970, Angola was nine years into a colonial war with no end in sight, and the Banco de Angola — nominally a central bank but effectively an instrument of Lisbon's fiscal policy — continued issuing high-denomination notes to support an economy increasingly distorted by military expenditure. The 500 Escudos represented roughly a week's wage for many Angolan workers at the time.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement in Portuguese colonial currency was long-standing and largely uninterrupted by the political turbulence in Lisbon. This series would be rendered obsolete within five years — Angola's independence in 1975 and the subsequent adoption of the Kwanza in 1977 ended the escudo's circulation entirely.