10 Cruzados

The cruzado was introduced in February 1986 as the centerpiece of the Plano Cruzado, an economic stabilization program that froze prices and replaced the cruzeiro at a rate of 1,000 to one. Within a year, suppressed inflation had returned with a vengeance. By late 1987, the government was issuing 10-cruzado coins to handle denominations that had become impractical in smaller units — a denomination that would itself be obsolete within two years when the cruzado novo superseded the entire currency in January 1989.