500 Réis Thesouro Nacional, 2nd print

Brazil's Imperial Treasury notes of this period were contracted to the American Bank Note Company at a time when domestic printing capacity was considered inadequate for the security demands of a currency under constant pressure from counterfeiting. The 2nd print designation distinguishes this issue from the earlier run by differences in plate details and paper stock — collectors regularly conflate the two, and misattribution in dealer stock is common enough to warrant careful examination of the marginal imprint.

The 500 Réis denomination sat at the lower end of the Treasury's paper issue range, putting it into genuine working-class circulation during the final years of the Empire before the 1889 republican transition rendered the entire Thesouro Nacional series obsolete almost overnight.