10 Mil Réis Caixa de Estabilização, 1st. Print

The Caixa de Estabilização was a currency board established in 1926 under President Washington Luís, designed to peg the milréis to gold at a fixed rate of 6 pence sterling. These notes were gold-exchange certificates in the strict sense — each one theoretically backed by gold held in reserve, a deliberate departure from the inflationary paper policies Brazil had leaned on since the Encilhamento crisis of the 1890s. The board was dissolved in 1930 when the Great Depression drained the gold reserves and the scheme became untenable.

Sukeichi Oyama was one of the few Japanese-born engravers employed by the American Bank Note Company during that period, a small but remarkable detail in a field dominated by European-trained craftsmen.