20 Cruzeiros 150th Anniversary of Independence

Brazil's 150th independence anniversary fell in 1972 under the military government of Emílio Médici, at the height of the regime's most repressive phase. The commemorative program was partly a propaganda exercise — the dictatorship leaned heavily on nationalist symbolism while simultaneously operating its harshest internal security apparatus. Coins and medals from this issue were distributed with considerable fanfare at official ceremonies in Brasília and São Paulo.

The .900 silver content places this among the last Brazilian silver commemoratives before the country moved definitively toward base-metal issues for circulation and collector pieces alike.