One thousand escudos is the top denomination of the first Bank of Cape Verde notes, dated 20 January 1977. The date is meaningful: exactly four years earlier, on 20 January 1973, Amílcar Cabral was assassinated in Conakry; he founded the PAIGC, the party that fought for the independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.

Cabral is again on the right, in a traditional cap, and repeated in the watermark, with the coat of arms in the centre. The note’s themes are labour and the economy: electrical equipment on the left of the front, and on the back workers in a quarry and a stalk of bananas.

The series was printed by the British firm Bradbury Wilkinson; the note is signed by Finance Minister Amaro Alexandre da Luz and Governor Corentino Virgílio Santos.

The top denomination of independent Cape Verde’s first series fills a key place in a collection of the country and complements a set of notes bearing Amílcar Cabral’s portrait. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

A banknote from the VPcoins catalogue is a gift that is interesting to examine and has a story worth telling.