Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Mil Réis Caixa de Conversão, 1st. Print
| Issuer | Caixa de Conversão do Brasil |
|---|---|
| Year | 1908 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in sepia on ochre underprint using intaglio technique. The central vignette presents three female allegorical figures representing the Arts, Agriculture, and Commerce. Denomination numerals and inscription panels frame the central composition, with the printer's imprint of Waterlow & Sons Ltd repeated at the base. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| 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.