500 Escudos Porto-European Culture Capital, Proof issue

Porto held the European Capital of Culture designation in 2001 alongside Rotterdam — a pairing that reflected the EU's shift that year toward naming two cities simultaneously rather than one. The Proof striking from INCM typically employs their standard two-part die process, but this issue was among the final silver commemoratives produced before Portugal's escudo was fully withdrawn from circulation following euro adoption in January 2002, giving the entire late escudo proof series an accidental finality.