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!
500 Cruzeiros Thesouro Nacional, 1st print, Autographed
| Issuer | Tesouro Nacional (Brazil) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
| 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 | 157 × 67 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| 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 blue on a polychrome underprint using intaglio (taille-douce) and offset techniques, the obverse centres on a formal portrait vignette of Dom João VI (João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael) set within an ornate engraved frame. The denomination numeral 500 flanks the portrait on both sides. Inscriptions identifying the issuing authority, denomination in words (QUINHENTOS CRUZEIROS), and the printer's imprint (AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY) appear around the central vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 500 500 REPÚBLICA DOS ABERTURA DOS PORTOS 500 500 ESTADOS UNIDOS DO BRASIL AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY. (Translation: 500 500 Republic of the United States of Brazil Opening of the Ports 500 500 American Bank Note Company.) |
| 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 |
Brazil's wartime finances in 1943 were under serious strain — the country had entered World War II on the Allied side in August 1942, and the Vargas government was simultaneously managing inflation, currency controls, and the costs of mobilizing the Força Expedicionária Brasileira. The Tesouro Nacional, rather than the Banco do Brasil, served as the formal issuing authority here, a distinction that mattered constitutionally even if the notes circulated identically.
The American Bank Note Company contract placed production firmly in New York, which was not unusual for Brazilian high-denomination paper at this period. "Autographed" in the catalog designation refers to the hand-signed authorization signatures on the face — a requirement that distinguished this first print from later mechanically countersigned runs.