2000 Réis Trial Strike, Marechal Deodoro

The 1939 trial strikes for the Vargas-era Brazilian coinage program were produced as Casa da Moeda worked through a series of composition and die tests ahead of planned circulation issues. Aluminium bronze was being evaluated across multiple denominations during this period as Brazil shifted away from earlier alloy standards — a practical response to wartime material pressures that would intensify significantly within two years.

Deodoro da Fonseca, the subject of this denomination, had proclaimed the republic in 1889 and served as its first president, resigning after less than two years under pressure from his own military. The pairing of his image with a trial piece — rather than a circulating coin — is fitting, given how contested his historical rehabilitation remained well into the twentieth century.