Portuguese escudo

Portuguese escudo
Escudo português  (Portuguese)
1 escudo (1993)
ISO 4217
Code	PTE
Denominations
Subunit
1⁄100	centavo
Plural	escudos
centavo	centavos
Symbol	($; substituted with ⟨$⟩ when ⟨$⟩ not available)
Banknotes	500$, 1,000$, 2,000$, 5,000$, 10,000$
Coins	1$, 5$, 10$, 20$, 50$, 100$, 200$
Demographics
User(s)	None, previously:  Portugal
Issuance
Central bank	Banco de Portugal
Website	www.bportugal.pt
Mint	Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda
Website	www.incm.pt
Valuation
Inflation	2.8% (2000)
Source	worldpress.org
ERM
Since	19 June 1989
Fixed rate since	31 December 1998
Replaced by €, non cash	1 January 1999
Replaced by €, cash	1 January 2002
€ =	200$482
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The escudo (Portuguese pronunciation: [(i)ʃˈkudu], shield; sign $;^[1] code: PTE) was the currency of Portugal prior to the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999 and its removal from circulation on 28 February 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 centavos.

Amounts in escudos were written as escudos $ centavos with the cifrão as the decimal separator (e.g. 25$00 means $25.00, 100$50 means $100.50). Because of the conversion rate of 1000 réis = $1, three decimal places were initially used ($1 = 1$000).

History

Escudo gold coinage was initially introduced in 1722 with denominations including  ¹⁄₂ escudo,^[2] 2, 4, and 8 escudos,^[3] and were minted generally during the 18th century.

The escudo (non-gold) was again introduced on 22 May 1911, after the 1910 Republican revolution, to replace the real at the rate of 1,000 réis to 1 escudo. The term mil réis (thousand réis) remained a colloquial synonym of escudo up to the 1990s. One million réis was called one conto de réis, or simply one conto. This expression passed on to the escudo, meaning 1,000$.

The escudo's value was initially set at 675$00 = 1 kg of gold. After 1914, the value of the escudo fell, being fixed in 1928 at 108$25 to the Pound Sterling. This was altered to 110$00 to the Pound Sterling in 1931. A new rate of 27$50 escudos to the U.S. dollar was established in 1940, changing to 25$00 in 1940 and 28$75 in 1949.

During World War II, escudos were heavily sought after by Nazi Germany, through Swiss banks, as foreign currency to make purchases to Portugal and other neutral nations.^[4]

Inflation throughout the 20th century made centavos essentially worthless by its end, with fractional value coins with values such as 0$50 and 2$50 eventually withdrawn from circulation in the 1990s. With the entry of Portugal in the Eurozone, the conversion rate to the euro was set at 200$482 to €1.^[5]

Territorial usage

The escudo was used in the Portuguese mainland, the Azores and Madeira, with no distinction of coins or banknotes. In Portugal's African colonies, the escudo was generally used up to independence, with Portuguese and sometime local coins circulating alongside banknotes of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino, rather than those of the Bank of Portugal used on the mainland. For more details, see the escudos of Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe. Only Cape Verde continues to use the escudo. In Macau, the currency during the colonial period was, as it is today, the pataca. Timor-Leste adopted the escudo whilst still a Portuguese colony, having earlier used the pataca. Portuguese India adopted the escudo before it was annexed by India.

Coins

Portuguese 8 gold escudos (1729)

Portugal: 4 centavos 1917

0$50 of 1926

200$00 of 1991

The gold escudo mintage period for each denomination (introduced in 1722) was different:  ¹⁄₂ escudo through 1821,^[6] 2 escudos through 1789,^[7] and 4 escudos through 1799.^[8] The 8 escudo coin was only struck between 1722–30.^[3]

Between 1912 and 1916, silver 10, 20 and 50 centavos and 1-escudo coins were issued. Bronze 1 and 2 centavos and cupro-nickel 4 centavos were issued between 1917 and 1922.

In 1920, bronze 5 centavos and cupro-nickel 10 and 20 centavos were introduced, followed, in 1924, by bronze 10 and 20 centavos and aluminium bronze 50 centavos and 1 escudo. Aluminium bronze was replaced with cupro-nickel in 1927.

In 1932, silver coins were introduced for  2 ¹⁄₂, 5 and 10 escudos. The  2 ¹⁄₂ and 5 escudos were minted until 1951, with the 10 escudos minted until 1955 with a reduced silver content. In 1963, cupro-nickel  2 ¹⁄₂ and 5 escudos were introduced, followed by aluminium 10 centavos, bronze 20 and 50 centavos and 1 escudo in 1969. Cupro-nickel 10 and 25 escudos were introduced in 1971 and 1977, respectively. In 1986, a new coinage was introduced which circulated until replacement by the euro. It consisted of nickel-brass 1, 5 and 10 escudos, cupro-nickel 20 and 50 escudos, with bimetallic 100 and 200 escudos introduced in 1989 and 1991.

Coins in circulation at the time of the changeover to the euro were:

• 1 escudo (0.50 cent)
• 5 escudos (2.49 cent)
• 10 escudos (4.99 cent)
• 20 escudos (9.98 cent)
• 50 escudos (24.94 cent)
• 100 escudos (49.88 cent)
• 200 escudos (99.76 cent)

Coins ceased to be exchangeable for euro on December 31, 2002.

Another name for the 50 centavos coin was coroa (crown). Long after the 50 centavos coins disappeared, people still called the 2$50 coins cinco coroas (five crowns).

Also, people still referred to escudos at the time of the changeover in multiples of the older currency real (plural réis). Many people called the 2$50 coins dois e quinhentos (two and five-hundreds), referring to the correspondence 2$50 = 2500 reis. Tostão (plural tostões) is yet another multiple of real, with 1 tostão = 10 réis.

Banknotes

The Casa da Moeda issued notes for 5, 10 and 20 centavos between 1917 and 1925 whilst, between 1913 and 1922, the Banco de Portugal introduced notes for 50 centavos, 1,  2 ¹⁄₂, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 escudos. 50-centavo and 1-escudo notes ceased production in 1920, followed by  2 ¹⁄₂, 5 and 10 escudos in 1925 and 1926. 5,000-escudo notes were introduced in 1942.

The last 20 and 50-escudo notes were printed dated 1978 and 1980, respectively, with 100-escudo notes being replaced by coins in 1989, the same year that 10,000-escudo notes were introduced.

Banknotes in circulation at the time of the changeover to the euro were:

• 500 escudos (€2.49)
• 1,000 escudos (€4.99)
• 2,000 escudos (€9.98)
• 5,000 escudos (€24.94)
• 10,000 escudos (€49.88)

Banknotes could be returned to the central bank Banco de Portugal and converted to euros until 28 February 2026.

Escudo banknotes celebrated notable figures from the history of Portugal. The final banknote series featured the Age of Discovery, with João de Barros, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, and Henry the Navigator.

The last 100-escudo banknote represented Fernando Pessoa, the famous Portuguese writer and poet.

Colloquial expressions

Conto was the unofficial multiple of the escudo: 1 conto meant 1,000$00, 2 contos meant 2,000$00 and so on. The original expression was conto de réis, which means "one count of réis" and referred to one million réis. Since the escudo was worth 1,000 réis (the older currency), therefore one conto was the same as a thousand escudos. The expression remained in usage after the advent of the euro, albeit less often, meaning €5, roughly worth 1,000 escudos.

Occasionally paus, literally meaning "sticks", was also used to refer to the escudo ("Tens mil paus?" – "Do you have 1,000 escudos/sticks?"). During the move from escudos to euros the Portuguese had a joke saying that they had lost three currencies: the escudo, the conto, and the pau.

See also

• Portuguese euro coins
• Economy of Portugal
• Economic history of Portugal

References

Sources

• Cuhaj, George S., ed. (2009). Standard Catalog of World Gold Coins 1601–Present (6 ed.). Krause. ISBN 978-1-4402-0424-1. 
• Cuhaj, George S., ed. (2013). Standard Catalog of World Coins 1701-1800 (6 ed.). Krause. ISBN 978-1-4402-3884-0. 

External links

• Portuguese Coins Portuguese Coins Catalogue
• Overview of the Portuguese escudo from the BBC
• Portuguese escudo coins