80 iscontinued by order of the Emperor himself. It is believed that this occurred for two reasons: the absence of the word Constitutionalis (constitutional) in the legend and the fact that Dom Pedro I would not have liked his effigy as a Roman-like laureated naked bust. The next minted coins included the word Constitutionalis and the Emperor appeared in uniform. Today, these pieces are considered the most valuable items of Brazilian coin collection. Pg. 50 The pieces minted during the almost 60years of Dom Pedro II’s reign made his effigy one of the most represented in Brazilian money In general, coins in the Empire underwent minor changes. In gold and silver coins, the Empire coat-of-arms replaced those of Portugal, and the phrase In Hoc Signo Vinces (Under this sign you will conquer) was inserted. Copper units received stamps of 40 or 80 réis on one side and the Empire coat-of-arms on the other. After 139 years, the supremacy of the patacas ended in 1834. In the Rio de Janeiro Mint, a new series of silver coins was minted: the Cruzados, made up of pieces of 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,200 réis. Finally, Brazil gained its own monetary system - until then, it was a mere continuation of the Portuguese one. Gradually, as banknotes become more popular, coinage ended up being used to manufacture change, and bronze and cupro-nickel began to replace copper. REPUBLIC The Brazilian Republic was proclaimed on November 15, 1889. However, the change in the political system did not immediately alter the monetary standard: réis were still in the pockets of citizens. On silver and gold coins, the allegory of the Republic was engraved in place of the Emperor’s image - these were the last gold coins minted for circulation in Brazil. The bronze ones, in turn, received mottos to encourage the population to save money, and the cupro-nickel ones got to have the phrase Ordem e Progresso (Order and Progress). Pg. 52 BBASIL In 1922, the Centenary of independence was celebrated ith a special coin. It had the image of Dom Pedro I, first monarch of the Brazilian Empire, accompanied by Epitácio Pessoa, president of the republic then. It is worth mentioning some coins came out with a minting error: BBASIL was engraved instead of BRASIL. Pg. 53 SANTOS DUMONT Minas Gerais born Santos Dumont was a worldly famous Brazilian. Although in most of the world this credit is given to the Wright Brothers, in Brazil he is known as the father of aviation. He built the first gas-powered airship and because of that he won the Deutsch Award. He made the first powered heavier-than-air flight in Europe to be certified by the Air Club of France. Because of his inventions, he was honored with a special series of coins in 1936. GETÚLIO VARGAS São Borja born gaucho, Getúlio Vargas was portrayed in a special series of coins from 1938 to 1942. He was the president of Brazil between 1930 and 1945 and again from 1950 to 1954, the year he committed suicide. RENOWNED BRAZILIANS From 1935 to 1938, the series Brasileiros ilustres (Renowned Brazilians) circulated, minted in honor of the country’s great figures. Initially made in bronze- aluminum, they featured great names such as Duque de Caxias, Marechal Floriano, regente Feijó, Tobias Barreto and Machado de Assis. From 1936, nickel coins were also minted, depicting figures such as Oswaldo Cruz, Carlos Gomes, Barão de Mauá and Marquês de Tamandaré. A new series would appear decades later, between 1918 and 1935. New coins were minted in cupro-nickel in the amounts of 20, 50, 100, 200 and 400 réis. The most famous of them is the piece of 100 réis, that received the name of Tostão and named the series. In the following decades, contrary to what had happened to the moment, there would be many changes in monetary standards as we will see with the coins of our collection. Cruzeiro (Cr$) From 1942 to 1967 After a long supremacy of the réis, the first change in the Brazilian monetary standard occurred. In 1942, the Cruzeiro was launched as a pioneer in aluminum minting and quartering. The unit of the new standard was equivalent to a thousand réis. In 1891, the change of monetary standard was being discussed in the annals of the Brazilian Senate. The suggestion of the name cruzeiro came up as a way of referring to the symbol of nationality, since the flag shows the Southern Cross constellation. Cruzeiro Novo (NCr$) From 1967 to 1970 The monetary lack of control of the 50s and 60s had the Cruzeiro Novo (New Cruzeiro) created, a transitory currency to hold back the inflation. One unit equated to one thousand “old” cruzeiros. With this reform, it was necessary to replace all the circulating means, which meant a total of Cr$ 1,852,728,856,976 in 2,528,521,733 banknotes and 1,683,898,500 metallic coins. ART AND TECHNIQUE With the reform of cruzeiro to cruzeiro novo (NewCruzeiro), the Brazilian Mint began to study the technicaland artistic characteristics of the cents to represent the Brazilian traditions. It was also necessary to establish its intrinsic value: the technical recommendation is that it does not exceed 33% of the face value, for security, or even lower than this percentage in order not to encourage counterfeiting. Stainless steel was chosen for the lower value coins, because of the lasting shine and the ease of minting details.