The escudo was the currency of Portuguese Timor

Portuguese Timor

Portuguese Timor was the name of East Timor when it was under Portuguese control. During this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Netherlands East Indies, and later with Indonesia....

 between 1959 and 1976. It replaced the pataca

Portuguese Timorese pataca

The pataca was a monetary unit of account used in Portuguese Timor between 1894 and 1958, except for the period 1942-1945, when the occupying Japanese forces introduced the Netherlands Indies gulden and the roepiah...

 at a rate of 5.6 escudos = 1 pataca and was equivalent to the Portuguese escudo

Portuguese escudo

The escudo was the currency of Portugal prior to the introduction of the Euro on 1 January 1999 and its removal from circulation on 28 February 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 centavos....

. It was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah

Indonesian rupiah

The rupiah is the official currency of Indonesia. Issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia, the ISO 4217 currency code for the Indonesian rupiah is IDR. Informally, Indonesians also use the word "perak" in referring to rupiah...

 following East Timor's

East Timor

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

 occupation by Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. The escudo was subdivided into 100 centavos.

East Timor

East Timor

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

 (formerly Portuguese Timor) now uses the U.S. dollar and has its own coins

East Timor centavo coins

For earlier currencies issued by East Timor, see Portuguese Timorese escudo and Portuguese Timorese pataca.East Timor centavo coins were introduced in East Timor in 2003 for use alongside United States Dollar banknotes and coins, which had been introduced in 2000 to replace the Indonesian rupiah...

 in circulation.

Coins

The first coins issued, dated 1958, were in denominations of 10, 30 and 60 centavos, 1, 3 and 6 escudos. The unusual denominations (see also the banknotes, below) may have been due to the exchange rate from the previous currency. The 10 and 30 centavos were struck in bronze, the 60 centavos and 1 escudo in cupro-nickel, and the 3 and 6 escudos in silver. In 1964, a silver 10 escudos was introduced, followed, in 1970, by more conventional denominations of 20 and 50 centavos, 1, 2½, 5 and 10 escudos. The 20 and 50 centavos and 1 escudo were struck in bronze, with the higher denominations struck in cupro-nickel.

Banknotes

The first banknotes, dated 1959, were in denominations of 30, 60, 100 and 500 escudos. In 1967, 20 and 50 escudos notes were introduced, followed by 1000 escudos in 1968. All paper money was issued by the Banco Nacional Ultramarino

Banco Nacional Ultramarino

Banco Nacional Ultramarino was a Portuguese bank with operations throughout the world, especially in Portugal's former overseas provinces. It ceased existence as an independent legal entity in Portugal following its merger with Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the government-owned savings bank, in...

.