Currency of Uruguay and fineness was retained, but the denomination was changed to "peso fuerte", with proposed coins of 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 peso fuerte in silver, and 2, 4, 8, and 16 pesos fuertes in gold. Uruguay's first postage stamps appeared in October 1856 for use on mail coach routes operated by Anastasio Lapido; the denominations were 60 and 80 centavos and 1 real (= 120 centavos). A second series followed in March 1858 in denominations of 120, 180, and 240 centavos (centésimos). Regular government stamps appeared in July 1859 in denominations of 60, 80, 100, 120, 180, and 240 centésimos.
Portuguese escudo Portuguese escudo The Portuguese escudo is 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". The word "escudo" means "shield". Amounts in escudos were written as "escudos" $ "centavos" with the "cifrão" as the decimal separator (e.g. "25$00" means $25.00, "100$50" means $100.50). Because of the conversion rate of 1000 réis = $1, three decimal places were initially used ($1 = 1$000). Escudo gold coinage was initially introduced in 1722 with denominations including escudo, 2, 4, and 8