Some real banknotes are worth up to 400 times their face value. It’s just that, for coin collectors, or numismatics, the scarcer the banknote is, that is, the fewer copies with the same characteristics are in circulation, the more it gains value.
This is the case of batches in which few bills were printed, which ended up stamping the signature of a finance minister who was in office for a short time or a wrong serial number, among other oddities. Another factor that influences the quotation is the conservation of the banknote: in the state of “print flower” (brand new, without folds and with high relief preserved), it is worth more than a note that has already passed through several hands. Unfortunately for numismatics, the average life of a banknote is short: a R$2 banknote lasts 11 months until it is collected by the banks.
The R$1 bill you keep in your wallet probably only has sentimental value. The rarest of this value is valued at “only” R$ 160.
TURNING THE WALLET
Understand why some real notes appreciated so much in 18 years
God be praised
Value: BRL 4 thousand
This phrase, used on Brazilian money since 1986, was forgotten in the first batches of real, in 1994, but finance minister Rubens Ricupero soon rescued the words. As Ricupero only lasted five months in office, the R$50 bill with his signature and with “God be praised” is extremely rare.
Notarized signature
Value: BRL 3 thousand
In addition to the signature of the minister of finance, every banknote bears the stamp of the president of the Central Bank. When one of them stays in office for a short time, as is the case with Pérsio Arida, who presided over the BC between January and June 1995, the rating increases. The R$50 one signed by him, which had only 400,000 impressions, is worth a lot
Outstanding
Value: BRL 2 thousand
Until the mid-1990s, banknotes that were defective at the Mint were discarded and, in their place, replacement banknotes with an asterisk in the serial number were printed. In 1994, around 400,000 R$5 and R$10 banknotes were printed with the small – and precious – detail
Made in France
Value: BRL 1.5 thousand
To launch the real in July 1994, the Mint had to order prints abroad: 4 million of each value in one country. The R$5 ones came from Germany, the R$10 ones from England and the R$50 ones from France. They have the letter “B” at the end of the serial number and a discreet manufacturer identification on the back.
contrary defect
Value: BRL 500
In 2003, quality control at the Casa da Moeda let R$50 bills pass with the serial number censored, which multiplies their value for collection. The old R$10 note, made of plastic, has parts with letters changed at the end of the serial number. These are so rare they don’t even have a rating.
DOUBLE SIDE
When flipping a coin on the horizontal axis, the opposite side is upside down. If they are on the same level, it is a very rare and valued coin with an “inverted reverse”
HEADS OR TAILS?
A ranking of the most valuable coins
BRL 1 (1998)
Value: BRL 40
Only 600,000 units of this coin commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were minted
BRL 0.25 (1995)
Value: BRL 25
The engraving in honor of the FAO, the UN’s anti-hunger agency, stamped 1 million out of 140 million R$ 0.25 coins minted in the year
BRL 0.10 (1995)
Value: BRL 25
Also paying homage to FAO, 1 million coins were minted with the design, against 239 million regular coins issued that year.
This article follows the quotations published in the Brazilian Cédulas Catalog (2011).
SOURCES Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and book 1000 Days in the Bunker, by Guilherme Fiúza
CONSULTANCY Laurence Matuck, collector of Lauri Numismática; Cláudio Amato, author of the Cédulas do Brasil Catalog (2011), and João Sidney Figueiredo Filho, director of the Central Bank’s currency department
IMAGES Collection of João Paulo Z. Ferreira, president of Brasil Moedas (brasilmoedas.com.br)
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