10 Cruzados overprinted on P# 203

Brazil's 1986 Plano Cruzado replaced the cruzeiro at a rate of 1,000 to 1, and the transition happened faster than new notes could be printed. Rather than delay, the Banco Central simply overprinted existing cruzeiro stock — in this case the P#203 — with the new denomination and currency name. It was a monetary reform executed largely with a rubber stamp.

The overprint series was always a stopgap, and most examples passed through heavy retail circulation before purpose-printed cruzado notes arrived. The Plano Cruzado itself collapsed within two years, making the entire overprint episode a brief, chaotic footnote in Brazil's long struggle with hyperinflation throughout the 1980s.