The date on this note is 10 June 1973, and 10 June is the day Luís de Camões died, which Portugal celebrates as its national day. The Banco de Angola series bearing this date is devoted entirely to the poet: his profile looks out from the front of every denomination and shows through against the light in the watermark.

Camões (c. 1524–1580) is the greatest poet of the Portuguese language and the author of the epic «The Lusiads» about Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India. At the centre of the front is the colonial coat of arms of Angola with an elephant and a zebra: the country was then an overseas province of Portugal.

Twenty escudos is the lowest denomination of this «Camões» series, which also included 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 escudos. These notes had a short life: Angola became independent on 11 November 1975, and in 1977 the escudo was replaced at par by the national kwanza.

The note fills the colonial Angola slot in a collection of the country and belongs in a «writers and poets on banknotes» set. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

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