Brazil's shift to aluminum for this denomination in 1956 was driven by chronic shortages of the copper-nickel alloys that had served earlier issues, compounded by the Kubitschek government's aggressive industrialization spending — the same fiscal pressures that were simultaneously inflating the cruzeiro into near-worthlessness. Aluminum was cheap, domestically available, and easy to strike in volume.
The alloy's low density created persistent vending machine incompatibility, and the coins were notoriously easy to counterfeit with foil. The series was retired by 1961 as monetary reform discussions accelerated toward the cruzeiro's eventual replacement.
Brazil's shift to aluminum for this denomination in 1956 was driven by chronic shortages of the copper-nickel alloys that had served earlier issues, compounded by the Kubitschek government's aggressive industrialization spending — the same fiscal pressures that were simultaneously inflating the cruzeiro into near-worthlessness. Aluminum was cheap, domestically available, and easy to strike in volume.
The alloy's low density created persistent vending machine incompatibility, and the coins were notoriously easy to counterfeit with foil. The series was retired by 1961 as monetary reform discussions accelerated toward the cruzeiro's eventual replacement.