10 Mil Reis

The Thesouro do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul — the state treasury, not a bank — issued its own paper currency well into the twentieth century, a practice that had largely died out elsewhere in Brazil. Rio Grande do Sul retained unusual fiscal autonomy under the Old Republic's federalist structure, and these state-issued notes circulated alongside federal currency without significant legal friction. That arrangement ended abruptly in 1930, the same year this note was issued, when Getúlio Vargas's revolution toppled the Old Republic and centralized authority in Rio de Janeiro.

The timing makes this a terminal issue — printed in Porto Alegre essentially as the political ground was collapsing beneath the issuing authority.