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200 Cruzeiros Thesouro Nacional, 1st print, 'Valor Legal'
| Issuer | Tesouro Nacional (National Treasury of Brazil) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1961-1964 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#171 |
| Obverse description | Printed in blue on a polychrome underprint, combining intaglio and offset techniques. The central vignette presents a bust portrait of Dom Pedro I (Emperor of Brazil) set within an ornate decorated frame, flanked on either side by the denomination numeral 200. The design bears the legends of the Tesouro Nacional and the issuing authority, with the American Bank Note Company imprint at the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in olive-green in intaglio. The central vignette reproduces a representation of the painting 'Independência ou Morte' (Independence or Death), subtitled 'GRITO DO IPIRANGA', after the celebrated work by the painter Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo, commemorating Brazil's declaration of independence. The denomination numeral 200 appears at each corner, with the American Bank Note Company imprint at the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The "Valor Legal" overprint on this note was a Brazilian Treasury intervention designed to enforce acceptance — at a moment when public confidence in cruzeiro-denominated paper was badly strained by inflation running well above 20% annually through the early 1960s. That one phrase, stamped onto ABNC-printed stock, effectively made refusal of the note a legal offense.
Three signature combinations span this emission, with Octávio Gouvêa de Bulhões appearing across two of them — he served as Finance Minister under Castelo Branco after the 1964 coup, giving the later series an unexpected historical footnote. The print run across series 671–1570 is substantial, and circulated survivors typically show heavy center folds consistent with the denomination's active use before the 1967 cruzeiro novo reform retired the series.