25 Centavos Real Flat Disc 2nd. Family

Brazil's second family of the Real, introduced in 1998, replaced the initial coin set issued at the currency's 1994 launch — itself a hard monetary reset designed to break the back of chronic hyperinflation that had plagued the country through multiple failed stabilization plans, including the Cruzado, Bresser, and Collor packages. The flat disc format replaced the earlier wavy-edge design partly to reduce production costs and improve vending machine compatibility.

Brass-plated steel was chosen over the original brass composition as the Real stabilized and cost pressures on the mint eased into predictability — an irony given the currency's origins in fiscal emergency.