500 Escudos 1953, Mozambique
| in Krause book | Number: 104 |
| Years of issue: | 1953 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | O Administrador: José de Azeredo Perdigão, O Governador: Francisco José Vieira Machado |
| Serie: | 1953 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 31.07.1953 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 169 x 89 |
| 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:
Alfredo Augusto Caldas Xavier.
Avers:
Alfredo Augusto Caldas Xavier (Lisbon, 25 September 1852 – Lourenço Marques, 8 January 1896) was a Portuguese soldier, engineer, explorer and colonial administrator who distinguished himself in the so-called peace campaigns in Mozambique in the last decades of the 19th century. In the words of Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque, another of the soldiers who gained fame in these campaigns, Major Alfredo Augusto Caldas Xavier, was the most illustrious of all the officers who have honored the Portuguese name in Africa, a model of military virtues of courage and selflessness . He had a leading role in the design of the Maputo to Transvaal railway line and in the delimitation of the southern borders of Mozambique. 
Centered, on 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 XV 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).
Revers:
Centered is The coat of arms of Portugese Mocambique from 1951 till 1975.
The right field of the coat of arms symbolized Portugal, the left - in fact, Mocambique, and the lower, wedged - its status - overseas colony.
On left side is the logo of Banco Nacional Ultramarino (Overseas colonial bank).
The symbol of the bank is its identification. With its institutional heraldry, the bank intends to show some of its guidelines and even the motto that guides the company. Banco Nacional Ultramarino, as a century-old organization, embodied in its logo changes the expression of the changes that the bank has undergone. The BNU was created by means of the Law of May 16, 1864, during the reign of Louis I. The description of the emblem appears in the first charter of the bank, approved on August 12: “The seal of the bank will have the emblem of a steamer (vessel), with the inscription at the top of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino, and at the bottom - the motto - colonies, trade, agriculture. " This brief description allowed us to assume that during the development of the bank it adopted various schemes, but obeyed the procedures set forth in the statutory article. In addition, from an ideological point of view, when they chose the image of the ship and the motto - colonies, trade, agriculture, the founder of the bank, Francisco de Oliveira Chamiso, intended to confirm the desire of BNU to stimulate the economy of the then Portuguese overseas. The steamboat, a symbol of navigation, transport and, at that time, the greatest example of maritime innovation, hinted at travel and communication between the colonies and the metropolis, two worlds in which the bank intended to establish itself. BNU printing has become used in various graphic documents published by the bank, both for internal and external use. As an issuer of paper money for former colonies, the seal was also present in issued banknotes. Initially, it had several designs that shared the inscriptions mentioned in the charter, and a steamer in the center. The type of this vessel had several representations. From mixed steam and steam ships, from ships with and without sails to the various number of masts or chimneys that were on the ship.
At the same time, a feature was noted that was confirmed in banknotes published between 1905 and 1912 for Macau. Here, despite what was indicated in the statutory article, which required the presentation of the ship, these banknotes were made with the seal of BNU, on which the ship is depicted. The note contained the mentioned signatures, in which the upper one was in the form of an arc, and the lower one in a three-layer strip. All this discrepancy was corrected by the introduction of a new logo: a steamer was chosen to standardize the bank logo, and now it is included exclusively as a BNU seal. He had two pipes, two masts, and you can see the cabins, the command bridge, connecting cables. The borders of the circle where the seal was located were framed with inscriptions, in accordance with the charters. The sea occupied the lower half of the emblem.
This emblem appeared for many years until the revision of the Portuguese Constitution of 1951 (Law No. 2048 of June 11) changed the administrative name of the colonies to overseas provinces. Since this term was abolished in the lower heading of the BNU seal, the bylaws had to be changed to reflect the new reality. Thus, the change was made on June 1, 1953 and now included Article 1: “() The Bank’s seal has a steamer emblem with the inscription at the top of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino and below - Lisbon, 1864.” Thus, in the lower heading, only the city where the headquarters of the bank is located and the year the bank was founded was indicated. Inscriptions continued to envelop the ship, being separated by two stars. The ship plunged into steam, now with three sails masts lowered, each of which was with its own standard, in addition to the other aft. Between the two masts, a pipe was also shown, from which smoke came out. The sea continued to occupy the lower half of the emblem. This seal was a symbol of BNU during its existence, before the merger with Caixa Geral de Depósitos, in 1994, after the acquisition of BNU Caixa Geral de Depósitos (1988), the symbol underwent a new change. The inscriptions were left, and the ship remained, which switched to the version outlined in profile and in rows of blue lines. This symbol also appears in some BNU Macau branches and in the CGD / BNU branch in Timor-Leste.
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