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50 Mil Réis Caixa de Conversão, 1st. Print

Issuer Caixa de Conversão do Brasil
Year 1908
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Value 50 000 Réis (50 000)
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Obverse description Printed in sepia on ochre underprint, combining intaglio (calcography) and lithographic techniques. To the left, an oval medallion vignette carries the portrait of Afonso Augusto Moreira Pena (1847–1909), sixth President of Brazil (1906–1909); to the right appear a vignette of the Conversion Fund building and the Arms of the Republic. Inscriptions include the issuer title, denomination in words and numerals, the statutory payment clause citing Law No. 1575 of 6 December 1906, and the printer's imprint of Waterlow & Sons Ltd, London.
Obverse lettering REPÚBLICA DOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DO BRAZIL 50 A CAIXA DE CONVERSÃO 50 50 Pagará ao Portador á vista, no Rio de Janeiro a importância deste bilhete em ouro amoedado ao cambio em quinze dinheiros por Mil Réis, valor recebido nos termos da lei n. 1575 de 6 de Dezembro de 1906. CINCOENTA MIL RÉIS Waterlow & Sons Ltd Londres, Inglaterra.
(Translation: Republic of the United States of Brazil The Conversion Fund will pay the bearer in cash, in Rio de Janeiro, the amount of this banknote in coined gold at the exchange rate of fifteen pence per Mil Réis, value received under the terms of Law No. 1575 of 6 December 1906. Fifty Thousand Réis Waterlow & Sons Ltd London, England.)
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Comments

The Caixa de Conversão was established in 1906 under Finance Minister Leopoldo de Bulhões as a direct response to chronic exchange rate instability that had plagued Brazilian trade since the 1890s. Its mechanism was straightforward: gold or foreign currency deposited at the fixed rate of 15 pence to the milréis would be issued as convertible notes — a hard-backed paper supply deliberately separated from the inflationary emissions of the Banco do Brasil.

Waterlow & Sons produced the plates in London, and the series is generally well-executed for its period. The convertibility guarantee proved short-lived; the Caixa was suspended in 1914 when the outbreak of war drained gold reserves and made the fixed peg untenable.

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