50 Centavos Rio Branco, copper-nickel

The Rio Branco 50 centavos was introduced as part of Brazil's post-Plano Real coinage reform, the stabilization program that finally broke the back of chronic hyperinflation that had ravaged Brazilian purchasing power through the late 1980s and early 1990s — at its worst, inflation exceeded 2,000% annually. That the 50 centavos piece could exist as a meaningful denomination at all was, by 1998, a genuine economic novelty. Copper-nickel was chosen over stainless steel partly to distinguish the coin by feel in low-light conditions.