50 000 Cruzeiros 2nd Edition, 3rd Type

Brazil's chronic inflation of the mid-1980s is what explains this note's existence. The cruzeiro had been introduced in 1970 replacing the cruzeiro antigo at 1,000-to-1, yet by 1984 a 50,000-denomination was a routine transaction note, not a prestige issue. Inflation ran above 200% annually through most of this period, and the denomination was effectively obsolete before the series finished printing.

The cruzeiro itself was abolished in February 1986 when the Plano Cruzado replaced it with the new cruzado at 1,000-to-1 — the same ratio used sixteen years earlier, grimly symmetrical.