Alves Reis and the Portuguese Bank Note Scandal of 1925

Author:

Andrew Bull

Report:

24

Page:

20

Year:

1997

Subject Matter:

Lisbon and OPorto Factory Houses, British Merchants and Ec. Relations

Excerpt:

In 1925 in London, the printing company Waterlow and Sons was persuaded to print Portuguese banknotes using the official plates it had as a result of having carried out previous contracts for the Bank of Portugal. The company delivered the notes throughout most of that year to people who had no legal authority to receive them, with the illicit banknotes amounting to about 16.5% of the total banknotes in circulation in Portugal. The organiser of the elaborate confidence trick was Alvaro dos Reis, who had a background as a forger and the article describes his background and the way in which the fraud was carried out.

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(See also Nigel Armstrong-Fleming, The Portuguese Banknote Case, Annual Report 34, 2007)