1000 Cruzeiros Thesouro Nacional, 2nd print, 'Valor Legal'

Brazil's early 1960s were defined by accelerating inflation — the cruzeiro was losing value faster than new notes could be distributed, and the Tesouro Nacional was issuing high-denomination paper as a holding action against a monetary system under severe structural pressure. The "Valor Legal" overprint on this second printing was a formal designation distinguishing treasury-backed legal tender from other circulating instruments, a distinction that mattered less to the public than to the finance ministry.

Victor Meirelles was a 19th-century painter, not a banknote designer — his work was adapted from existing institutional art, which accounts for the somewhat rigid translation of oil-canvas imagery into intaglio.