Catalog
500 Rupias
| Issuer | Banco Nacional Ultramarino |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green and multicolour note with the bank seal bearing a steamship vignette at upper left and an intaglio portrait of Afonso de Albuquerque at right. The denomination numeral 500 appears in each of the four corners, with a fine guilloche underprint across the face. The date and decree reference are integrated into the lower inscription band. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in olive-green, the reverse carries a central vignette of a female allegorical figure at left observing sailing ships at sea, with the Portuguese Arms rendered at upper right. The overall composition is framed by a fine guilloche border with the issuing authority's legend running along the upper margin. |
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| Comments |
Banco Nacional Ultramarino issued this note for Portuguese India — Goa, Daman, and Diu — where the rupia remained the unit of account long after metropolitan Portugal had moved to the escudo. The 500-rupias denomination sat at the very top of everyday practical use; larger values existed on paper but rarely moved through trade hands.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced the series from their New Malden works, a firm whose intaglio security printing was then considered among the tightest in the business. The 1945 date places production during the final year of the Second World War, when Portuguese India's neutral status had made Goa an unusually active transit point for commerce and intelligence traffic alike.