Collection - Coins and Notes - Diário de Notícias #22 20 000 Reis

The Banco de Guimarães was one of the short-lived provincial banks authorized under Portugal's 1864 banking legislation, which briefly allowed regional institutions outside Lisbon and Porto to issue their own notes. The experiment was largely abandoned within two decades as the Banco de Portugal consolidated its monopoly on note issuance — most provincial bank paper was retired, redeemed, and pulped, leaving surviving examples genuinely sparse.

The 20,000 Réis denomination placed this firmly at the high end of commercial transactions for a regional Minho bank in 1873, suggesting wholesale trade use rather than everyday retail circulation.