20 Escudos 1940, Portugal
| in Krause book | Number: 143 |
| Years of issue: | 27.02.1940 |
| Edition: | 38 743 000 (with dates 17.09.1929 - 27.02.1940) |
| Signatures: | O Vice-governador: Álvaro Pedro de Sousa, O Administrador: Domingos de Sousa e Holstein Beck |
| Serie: | No Serie |
| Specimen of: | 17.09.1929 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 156 x 83 |
| Printer: | Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited, New Malden |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque.
Avers:
Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque (November 12, 1855 – January 8, 1902) was a Portuguese cavalry officer.
Governor General of Portuguese East Africa. He commanded the suppression of the anti-colonial uprising. He advocated the establishment of a military dictatorship in Portugal. Committed suicide. During the period of the New State, he was considered a national hero.
He captured Gungunhana in Chaimite (1895) and pacified Mozambique. He was a grandson of Luís da Silva Mouzinho de Albuquerque.
Having served in India during the 1880s, Mouzinho de Albuquerque was highly respected in Portuguese society of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was seen as the hope and symbol of Portuguese reaction to threats against Portuguese interests in Africa from other European empires.
He married his cousin Maria José Mascarenhas de Mendonça Gaivão (Lagoa, July 23, 1857 – Lisbon, September 2, 1950), without issue.
He was governor of Gaza Province and Mozambique until 1898 when he returned to Portugal. During his time as governor, Mouzinho served as commander of a cavalry squadron that fought Gungunhane. On December 28, 1895, Mouzinho captured Gungunhane in Chaimite without firing a gunshot.
He was the instructor of Crown Prince Luís Filipe.
He allegedly committed suicide at the entrance of the Jardim das Laranjeiras in Lisbon on January 8, 1902 (some sources claim he was killed). 
At the top is the coat of arms of Portugal.
The coat of arms of Portugal was officially adopted on 30 June 1911, along with the republican flag of Portugal. It is based on the coat of arms used by the Portuguese Kingdom since the Middle Ages.
The Portuguese coat of arms is the result of almost a millennium of modifications and alterations. Starting with Henry of Burgundy blue cross on a silver shield, successive elements were added or taken, culminating with the complex heraldic design that was officially adopted in 1911 (after the Republican Revolution of 1910). The two stripes bear the colours of the Portuguese flag: red and green.
Quinas:
After the official recognition of the Kingdom of Portugal as an independent country in 1143 (it had been declared in 1139), silver bezants were added to the Burgundian flag, symbolising coins and the right the monarch had to issue currency, as leader of a sovereign state. Eventually, and given the enormous dynamism of medieval heraldry, it is believed that the shield degraded and lost some elements in battle, eventually losing the cross format. This is how King Sancho I inherited the shield from his father, Afonso Henriques, with no cross and the quinas (the five escutcheons with the silver bezants) in its place.
Later, the number of silver bezants in each escutcheon would be reduced from eleven to five by King Sebastian I, and modern explanations interpret them as the five wounds of Jesus Christ, although this is highly improbable.
Castles:
It was during the reign of Afonso III that the red border with golden castles (not towers, as some sources state) was added. Although the number of castles could vary between eight to twelve, Afonso IV would define them as twelve and Sebastian I would finally fix them as seven. They supposedly represent the Moorish castles conquered by the Kingdom of Portugal during the Reconquista. Their origin is probably Castilian, but unlike Spanish castles, which usually have their gates coloured blue (hence opened), Portuguese castles were always depicted with gold gates (hence closed). As a matter of fact, Afonso III was the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal and thus was not expected to inherit the throne, which was destined to go to his elder brother King Sancho II of Portugal. As a second son, the coat of arms of Afonso III included both the arms of his father and the arms of his mother Urraca of Castile, thus the Castillan red border with golden castillan castles, around the Portuguese shield inherited from his father.
Armillary sphere:
An important element of Portuguese heraldry since the 15th century, the armillary sphere was many times used in Portuguese colonial flags, mainly in Brazil. It was a navigation instrument used to calculate distances and represents the importance of Portugal during the Age of Discovery, as well as the vastness of its colonial empire when the First Republic was implemented.
Although it is commonly used as a "republican" element, as opposed to the monarchist crown in the blue/white flag (see Flag of Portugal), some monarchist flags, such as the flag of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, already depicted armillary spheres. The incorporation of the armillary sphere into the 1816 flag of the United Kingdom of Portugal is related to the adoption of the first flag of the Kingdom of Brazil, an armillary sphere on a blue background.
The coat of arms sported different crowns during imperial rule of Portuguese and foreign crowns:
Pre mid-1500s the coat of arms had an open imperial crown,
Crown of the House of Habsburg,
Various crowns of the House of Braganza (1640-1817),
Crown of João VI (1817-1910).
On right side is monumental portico, designed by French architect Ferdinand de Larre, at the entrance to the War Museum in Lisbon.
Located in Lisbon's waterfront district, overlooking the Tagus, the building that houses the museum is an interesting monument. At the main entrance there is a monumental portico designed by the French architect Ferdinand de Larre, which survived the earthquake of 1755. The apartments were restored at the end of the XVIII century and embellished with paintings and statues by Portuguese artists. On the eastern façade, an imposing fronton over the portico has a group sculpture by Teixeira Lopes.
Founded officially in 1851 and called the Artillery Museum, new decorations have been added to the rooms, with contributions by major Portuguese artists of the late XIX and early XX centuries, such as Columbano, Malhoa, Carlos Reis and Veloso Salgado, making the visit doubly interesting.
The tour was designed to be a learning experience, since through the military items on display, including a sword belonging to King D. João I (1385-1433), and the decorative paintings, the visitor learns about some of the great themes of Portuguese history, such as the discovery of the sea route to India, the Portuguese participation in the First World War and the pacification campaigns conducted by Mouzinho de Albuquerque in Mozambique in the last quarter of the XIX century.
In the Pátio dos Canhões (Cannon Yard), you can look at a valuable collection of artillery pieces while you relax in the cafeteria. (www.visitportugal.com)
Revers:
The Castle of Guimarães (Portuguese: Castelo de Guimarães), is the principal medieval castle in the municipality Guimarães, in the northern region of Portugal. It was built under the orders of Mumadona Dias in the X century to defend the monastery from attacks by Moors and Norsemen.
The castle is a military fortification grounded primarily in the late Romanesque period, and elaborated during the early Gothic epoch of Portuguese architecture. Its area is delineated by walls forming a pentagram, similar to a shield, that includes eight rectangular towers, military square and central keep. Originating in the foundations of a Roman structure, from the writings of Alfredo Guimarães, it was later elaborated on the French model, in its current the form of a shield, with reduced central yard and difficult accesses. It includes several Gothic characteristics, owing to its remodelling at the end of the XIII century, when the keep and residences were constructed (possibly over pre-existing structures).
Comments:
First issue: September 11, 1931.
Last issue: December 18, 1941.
Withdrawal from circulation: June 12, 1946.
Color: Dark red with polychrome background.
Paper was manufactured by Portals Limited, Laverstoke Mills, Whitchurch, Hants, England. This is the first Portuguese banknote to feature a watermark on the reverse! (zescudo.blogspot.com .port)
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