500 Mil Réis Thesouro Nacional, 2nd print

Brazil's paper currency in the 1840s occupied deeply uncomfortable political ground. The Banco do Brasil had collapsed in 1829, leaving the Thesouro Nacional to fill the void through direct treasury emission — an arrangement that generated chronic inflation and public distrust throughout the Regency period. This 500 Mil Réis belongs to that uneasy interval before the second Banco do Brasil was established in 1851.

Perkins, Bacon & Petch were among the most technically sophisticated security printers of the mid-nineteenth century, known particularly for their siderographic steel engraving process, which made plate duplication and counterfeiting significantly harder than copper-based alternatives. The contract reflects how far Brazil was sending its currency commissions at the time — across the Atlantic, to London.