Portugal 50 centavos 1926

The coin's story

This aluminium-bronze 50 centavos coin was struck under the First Republic, in a period of steep depreciation of the escudo. In 1924, the government of Álvaro de Castro reformed the metal coinage to halt the fall of the escudo. It withdrew banknotes and replaced them with 50 centavos and 1 escudo coins in aluminium-bronze, of low intrinsic value. The obverse, signed SIMÕES, shows the seated Republic, it is the work of the sculptor José Simões de Almeida. The type was struck only in 1924, 1925 and 1926: aluminium-bronze wore badly, and it was replaced from 1927 by nickel silver. The 1926 date is the most common, with 4,340,000 pieces.