Portuguese escudo

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, in the form of Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Banco de Angola banknotes (rather than those of the Bank of Portugal used in Portugal proper), with Portuguese and in some cases local coins circulating alongside:

• Angolan escudo
• Cape Verdean escudo
• Mozambican escudo
• Portuguese Guinean escudo
• São Tomé and Príncipe escudo

Of the above, only Cape Verde continues to use the escudo.

In Macau, the currency during the colonial period was, as it is today, the Macanese pataca.

Timor-Leste adopted the Portuguese Timorese escudo whilst still a Portuguese colony, having earlier used the Portuguese Timor pataca.

Portuguese India adopted the Portuguese Indian escudo for a brief time between 1958 and 1961 before Goa became a part of India; prior to that, it used the Portuguese Indian rupia.

Coins

The mintage period for the various denominations of the gold escudo (worth 1.6 milréis or 1.600) introduced in 1722 was different: 1⁄2 escudo through 1821, 2 escudos through 1789, and 4 escudos through 1799. The eight-escudo coin was only struck between 1722 and 1730.

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

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

In 1932, silver coins were introduced for 2+1⁄2, 5 and 10. The 2+1⁄2 and 5 were minted until 1951, with the 10 minted until 1955 with a reduced silver content. In 1963, cupro-nickel 2+1⁄2 and 5 were introduced, followed by aluminium 10, bronze 20 and 50 centavos and 1 in 1969. Cupro-nickel 10 and 25 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, cupro-nickel 20 and 50, with bimetallic 100 and 200 introduced in 1989 and 1991.

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

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

Coins ceased to be exchangeable for euros on 31 December 2002.

Another name for the 50 centavos coin was coroa (crown). Long after the 50 centavos coins disappeared, people still called the 2+1⁄2 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+1⁄2 coins dois e quinhentos (two and five-hundreds), referring to the correspondence 2+1⁄2 = 2500 réis. Tostão (plural tostões) is yet another multiple of real, with 1 tostão = 100 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. 50 centavos and 1 notes ceased production in 1920, followed by 2+1⁄2, 5 and 10 in 1925 and 1926. 5,000 notes were introduced in 1942.

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

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

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

The last series of escudo banknotes could be returned to the central bank Banco de Portugal and converted to euros until 28 February 2022.

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.

Colloquial expressions

Conto was the unofficial multiple of the escudo: 1 conto meant 1,000, 2 contos meant 2,000 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.

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.