10 000 Reis 10 Mil Reis

The Banco de Portugal's capacity to print its own notes in-house was relatively new by 1878 — the bank's Lisbon printing works, the Estamparia, had only come into proper operation in the 1870s after years of reliance on foreign contractors. This series represented an early assertion of domestic production at a moment when Portugal's public finances were under sustained strain from the accumulated debts of the Liberal Wars period and the ongoing cost of colonial administration.

The 10$000 réis denomination placed this firmly in large-transaction territory. Ordinary wage earners in 1870s Portugal rarely handled notes of this value.