500 Mil Réis Thesouro Nacional, 15th. Print

Brazil's National Treasury leaned heavily on the American Bank Note Company throughout the 1930s, a period when the Getúlio Vargas government was simultaneously modernizing the federal fiscal apparatus and weathering severe external trade shocks following the 1929 coffee market collapse. The 500 Mil Réis denomination sat at a meaningful level — not everyday pocket money, but not reserve currency either — putting it squarely in commercial and interbank use during a decade of monetary turbulence.

The "15th. Print" designation reflects Brazil's practice of tracking successive print orders rather than issuing entirely new series, making plate wear and incremental design variations a legitimate point of study across the run. ABNC's New York facility held the plates for much of the Thesouro Nacional output from this period, printing to order as Vargas-era fiscal demands fluctuated.

The Mil Réis itself was abolished in 1942 when the Cruzeiro replaced it at parity of 1,000 to 1, ending the denomination's circulation life entirely.