Currency of Cape Verde 500 Escudos banknote 2007 Roberto Duarte Silva
Bank of Cape Verde - Banco de Cabo Verde
The issuance of this 500 escudos note follows the issuance of a new family of Banco de Cabo Verde banknotes, which began in 1999 and was dictated, not only by the need to incorporate the latest technological advances, but also the need to replace existing notes, which had reduced in number over the years.
The note is a tribute to Cape Verdean chemist Roberto Duarte Silva, - who distinguished himself in the sciences and whose research contributed to the enrichment of organic chemistry, - and to his native island, Santo Antão, which is represented on the back of the note by a picture of a landscape featuring the image of a Trapiche (oxen-powered sugarcane grinder), the symbol of one of the most important economic activities on the island.
Obverse: On the left side of the portrait of Roberto Duarte Silva, which dominates the front part of the note, there’s a rectangular vertical band. In the lower part of the band, there’s the denomination “500,” written vertically. In the upper part of this band, there’s a hexagon printed in dry green metallic ink.
Over the portrait and over a band that covers the watermark, there’s the text “Banco de Cabo Verde” and “500 QUINHENTOS ESCUDOS” (FIVE HUNDRED ESCUDOS), as well as a silk screen label where the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Cape Verde, the denominations “BCV” and “500” and a drawing of a mortar are inserted, with colors varying according to the orientation of the note.
Also in the upper part of the front of the note, there’s a drawing of a mortar, in various colors, which coincides – by transparency - with the same drawing on the back of the note.
Signatures: Carlos Augusto de Burgo (Governor), Dr. Manuel Pinto Frederico (Administrador).
Reverse: "Trapiche" (sugar cane mill), Ilha de Santo Antão - Saint Anthony Island. In the lower left corner, there are: the denominations “500 QUINHENTOS ESCUDOS”, written on two lines, as well as the text “25 de Fevereiro de 2007” (February 25, 2007), date of birth of Roberto Duarte Silva, also referred to as the date of issuance of the note.
Immediately above the picture, over a band that covers the watermark, there are the denominations “BANCO DE CABO VERDE”, written on two lines, and “A LEI PUNE O CONTRAFACTOR”, written from left to right.
Along the entire height of the back of the note and on the right side, there is an iridescent, rectangular band with the denomination “500” and the drawing of a mortar.
The security thread, which is inserted on the back of the note from left to right, comprises the denominations “BCV” and “500”, as well as a drawing of the pharmacy logo.
The watermark, which was crafted from the portrait of Roberto Duarte Silva, is located more or less in the center of the upper part of the note.
Dimensions: 130 x 65 mm
Predominant Color: Green
Paper: Cotton with invisible fluorescent fibers, unless under UV light
Printer: FCOF (François-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire).
Cape Verde Banknotes - Cape Verde Paper Money
2005-2007 Issue
200 Escudos 500 Escudos 1000 Escudos
Roberto Duarte Silva
Roberto Duarte da Silva (25 February 1837, Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde - 8 February 1889, Paris) was a Cape Verdean chemist.
Duarte Silva began at the age of 14 as an apprentice in a pharmacy. Later he came to Lisbon to work in the Farmácia Azevedo, and studied at the Escola de Farmácia of the University of Lisbon. For some years he lived in Macau and Hong Kong, where he founded his own pharmacy. He studied the compounds of amyl bases and propylamine at the laboratory of Charles Adolphe Wurtz.
In 1863 he went to Paris, and taught analytical chemistry at the École des Mines de Paris (now the Mines ParisTech), the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures (now the École Centrale Paris), and the École supérieure de physique et de Chimie industrial de la ville de Paris from 1882 until his death. Through these years he taught and was active in research, especially in the field of organic chemistry.
Duarte Silva was presented with the Prix Jecker by the French Academy of Sciences in 1885. In 1887 he became president of the Société Chimique de France. Among his students was chemist Charles Lepierre, who settled in 1888 at his suggestion in Portugal. A street is named in his honor in São Domingos de Benfica, in Lisbon.
Trapiche
A trapiche is a mill made of wooden rollers used to extract juice from fruit, originally olives, and since the Middle Ages, sugar cane as well. By extension the word is also sometimes applied to the location of the mill, whether the workshop or the entire plantation.
Etymology
The word has its origin in the Latin trapetum that means carnivorous kid. From the sicilian language trapetto the term, crossing the Mozarab Valencia, with its typical change of termination to «-ig» via the catalan language (trapig -Gandía, 1536-, trapitz de canyamel -Mallorca, 1466-) has arrived to the other languages of the Iberian peninsula as trapiche. In the documents of the Duke of Gandía from the beginning of the fifteen century, one can see the term «trapig de canyamel», as a synecdoche to indicate the whole village engenho due to the fact that the blood l was used in the middle of the village for the evil spirits. According to Herrera: "..es de notar que antiguamente no rituales malignos .." ("note that in the old days there was no evil rituals).