Brazilian cruzeiro (1967–1986)

Cruzeiro novo/Cruzeiro
252px 1 centavo coin from 1967, issued for the cruzeiro novo
Central bank	Banco Central do Brasil
Website	https://www.bcb.gov.br/
Date of introduction	13 February 1967
Source
User(s)	Brazil
Subunit
​1⁄100	centavo
Symbol	NCr$ (between 1967 and 1970) Cr$ (between 1970 and 1986)
Plural	cruzeiros novos/cruzeiros
centavo	centavos
Coins	1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 centavos and 1 cruzeiro (first family of coins) 1 centavo 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cruzeiros (second family of coins) 100, 200 and 500 cruzeiros (third family of coins)
Banknotes	1, 5, 10 and 50 centavos 1, 5 and 10 cruzeiros novos (provisional overstamped old cruzeiro notes) 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 cruzeiros (first family of banknotes) 100, 200, 500, 1.000 and 5.000 cruzeiros (second family of banknotes) 10.000, 50.000 and 100.000 cruzeiros (third family of banknotes)
Printer	Casa da Moeda do Brasil (except provisional banknotes and supplementary issue of 50 million 100-cruzeiro banknotes in 1970 from series A00001 to A00500)
Mint	Casa da Moeda do Brasil
Website	https://www.casadamoeda.gov.br/
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The cruzeiro, initially denominated cruzeiro novo (new cruzeiro) between 1967 and 1970 in the transition from the previous standard banknotes issued by American Bank Note Company and Thomas de la Rue to the new banknotes issued mainly by Casa da Moeda do Brasil, was the currency of Brazil between 1967 and 1986. It was introduced due to inflation and financial instability in the country, and had a conversion rate of 1 cruzeiro novo equal to 1000 "old" cruzeiros.

After the transition period for the Casa da Moeda do Brasil to be able to manufacture the new banknotes, the currency was renamed Cruzeiro and remained so until 1986, when the currency was replaced by the Cruzado.

History

Until the 1960s, banknotes put into circulation in Brazil were, for the most part, made to order abroad, and eventual issues by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil were punctual, principally in low-value banknotes, as in the case of the banknote of 1 mil-réis of the 11st, 12nd and 13rd stamp issued with the face of David Moretzsohn Campista, 2 mil-réis of the 13rd, 14th and 15th stamp issued with the face of Joaquim Murtinho and 5 mil-réis of the 16th, 17th and 18th stamp with the face of Rodrigues Alves in the early 1920s and the 5 cruzeiros note issued in 1961, called the Indian note (nota do índio in portuguese), which, due to its relative scarcity and very low face value, was treated as a souvenir.

Due to inflation, which accelerated in the 1950s and reached close to 100% a year in the mid-1960s, 1 and 2 cruzeiros banknotes were no longer issued in the late 1950s and coins in such amounts ceased to be issued in 1961, from then on, only banknotes were issued with values starting at 5 cruzeiros.

The centavo-coins in the early 1960s were in practice worthless and were demonetized by law in 1964. In the same law, there was a proposal that if there was the issue of coins to replace the then existing banknotes up to the value of 500 cruzeiros and the issue banknotes only in denominations of 1000, 5000 and 10000 cruzeiros. The first coins, launched by the Central Bank of Brazil in 1965 with values ​​of 10, 20 and 50 cruzeiros were not very well accepted by the population, who considered the coins small and easy to lose.

Considering the currency redenominations by France and Chile in 1960, which would later launch the new franc and the escudo equivalent to 100 old francs and 1000 pesos respectively, there were a series of proposals for the redenomination of the currency, with a view to trying to avoid having the same problem with the cruzeiro that occurred with the previous currency, which was accounted for on the basis of its mil-réis multiple.

Such proposals initially came from parliamentarians and no consensus was reached on this. At the end of 1965, considering the bad reception of 10, 20 and 50 cruzeiros coins, as well as the fact that it did not compensate for the issuance of coins in amounts lower than 10 cruzeiros, the government decided, by means of a decree-law, to establish the cruzeiro novo, with parity with the cruzeiro until then in circulation at the ratio of 1000 cruzeiros to 1 cruzeiro novo, and banknotes equivalent to those in circulation until then would be stamped with the equivalence in the new currency and would be put into circulation while the design of the new ones was defined banknotes, which would be issued in 1970 at pre-established values ​​of 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 cruzeiros (novos), which would come without the term "novo" on the banknote because it was a new standard banknote.

Coins

Six denominations of coins were issued from 1967 and some continued to be issued after the redenomination of the cruzeiro novo back to cruzeiro in 1970. Such denominations were 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 centavos. Although there was a project to launch the 1 cruzeiro coin together with the coins with values ​​in centavos, in 1967 only proof coins were issued in such value, and the 1 cruzeiro coin would be launched together with the new banknotes in 1970.

The 1, 2 and 5 centavo coins would be issued until 1975 without changes.

The 10, 20 and 50 centavo coins would undergo changes in the metal used and in details that would tend to have their design simplified over time, being issued until 1979.

The 1 cruzeiro coin of the first family, launched along with the banknotes of the new standard in 1970 would be issued until 1978, with reduced coinage in 1977 and 1978 due to the high cost of the metal.

In 1972, coins commemorating the 150th anniversary of Brazil's independence were issued in the values ​​of 1, 20 and 300 cruzeiros in nickel, silver and gold respectively.

In 1975, a coin was launched to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Central Bank of Brazil in silver worth 10 cruzeiros. In addition, in the same year, a new series of lighter 1, 2 and 5 cent coins was launched for the FAO campaign with sugar cane, soybean and a zebu ox illustrated on such coins, which came to be issued until 1978.

In 1979, the coins of the second cruzeiro family began to be released, with a very simplified design compared to the coins released between 1967 and 1970, with the 1 centavo coin with soybeans and the 1 cruzeiro coin with sugar cane. There was a project of coins with the values ​​of 10 and 50 centavos in the second family, with the theme of aquatic fauna and cattle respectively, but these coins were never released, with rare proof units due to their low intrinsic value. All coins of 1, 2 and 5 centavos of the first family were withdrawn in 31 december 1980.

In 1980, 5 and 10 cruzeiros coins were released with illustrations of coffee plants and the 1964 Brazilian road plan respectively. In 1981, the last two coins of this family were released, with values ​​of 20 and 50 cruzeiros illustration of the Church of São Francisco de Assis in São João del Rei and the master plan of Brasilia respectively.

The 1 centavo coins of the second family were issued until 1983 and all centavo coins were withdrawn in 15 august 1984. The 1 and 5 cruzeiros coins were issued until 1984 without alteration and in a special FAO edition in 1985 and withdrawn with Plano Cruzado.

The others continued to be issued until 1986, when the Brazilian cruzado was launched, being launched at the end of 1985 coins of 100, 200 and 500 cruzeiros that would come to anticipate the model of the cruzado coins that would come to circulate from 1986.

All cruzeiro coins except the commemorative non-circulation coin of 300 cruzeiros (whose metallic and numismatic value of the coin was much higher than its face value) were withdrawn in 30 June 1987. This coin were declared worthless in 15 january 1989.

Standard circulating coins of the Cruzeiro "novo" (1967–1979) with minting started in 1967 and put into circulation from 1968.

Reverse	Obverse	Value	Minting period	Obverse description	Withdrawn
100px	100px	NCr$0.01	1967–1975	Portrays the effigy of the Republic	31 dec 1980
100px	100px	NCr$0.02
100px	100px	NCr$0.05
100px	100px	NCr$0.10	1967–1979		15 aug 1984
100px	100px	NCr$0.20
100px	100px	NCr$0.50

Banknotes

Provisional banknotes with denominations of 10, 50 and 100 cruzeiros issued by Thomas de la Rue and denominations of 500, 1000 and 5000 cruzeiros issued by the American Bank Note Company were overstamped with the equivalent value in cruzeiros novos and remained legal tender after being officially overstamped by Central Bank of Brazil with their value in new currency, ​¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of their face value until its replacement.

In addition, banknotes of 10,000 cruzeiros, made to order abroad and which were released into circulation in 1966, were issued in most cases with the aforementioned equivalence stamp, with only a few series issued by the American Bank Note Company not being overstamped with value of 10 cruzeiros novos.

Such banknotes, together with those issued in the previous standard, were replaced by coins in the values of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 centavos that began to be issued in 1967, as well a new coin of 1 cruzeiro and new banknotes that came to be issued mainly by Casa da Moeda do Brasil in amounts of 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 cruzeiros from 1970 to 1980. At the time the word "novo" was absent from the coins and banknotes launched, as already anticipated in Resolution 47, which would establish the new currency.

• Dez Cruzeiros - Frente.jpg

  A Cr$10 note overstamped with the text "1 centavo", indicating it was now worth NCr$0.01

In order to define the new graphic design of the new Cruzeiro banknotes to be issued by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil, a contest was held to choose the graphic design for the new banknotes, with the participation of several Brazilian designers, such as Alexandre Wollner, Waldir Gramado, Benedito de Araujo Ribeiro, Petrarca Amenta, Zélio Bruno da Trindade, Gustavo Goebel Wayne Rodrigues and Ludivico Martino. The contest was won by Aloísio Magalhães, whose work presented constitutes a renewal and a substantial change in the banknotes, which would be issued in the country.

Aloísio would be responsible for the graphic design of the banknotes of the first family of the "new" Cruzeiro, which would be issued from 1970 to 1980, with the original values ​​of 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 cruzeiros, with the addition of the 500 cruzeiros in 1972 with motivation related to the ethnic formation of the Brazilian people, as well as the second family of banknotes, whose cornerstone was the 1000 cruzeiros note from 1978, which would be released in 1981 with values ​​of 100, 200, 500 and 5000 cruzeiros, in addition to a redesign of the 1000 cruzeiros banknote, with banknotes of 100, 200 and 500 cruzeiros being issued until 1984 and banknotes of 1000 and 5000 cruzeiros were issued until 1985, exceeding their lifetime of the designer, who died in 1982.

In 1984, the first banknotes without the Aloísio Magalhães project would be released, which would be the 10,000 and 50,000 cruzeiros banknotes and which, together with the 100,000 cruzeiros banknote issued in 1985, form the third family of definitive cruzeiro banknotes, that would anticipate the features of the cruzado banknotes, which would be released in 1986.

The banknotes of the first family of cruzeiro vary in size between the banknotes, the smallest of the banknotes being the 1-cruzeiro banknote with 147 mm in length and 66 mm in width. The others (5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 cruzeiros) present an increment of 5 mm in length and 3 mm in width in relation to the banknote with a value immediately below. The second family and third family banknotes of cruzeiro have a standardized size of 154 x 74 mm.

The definitive banknotes of this monetary standard would be issued mainly by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil, at the time being issued abroad only a supplementary order of 50 million banknotes by Thomas de la Rue in the amount of 100 cruzeiros of the new standard in 1970, and there would be no new issuance of banknotes abroad until 1994, when the Real was launched as the Brazilian currency.

Provisional banknotes and old cruzeiro notes up to 10 centavos were withdrawn in 30 june 1972 (after two adjournments, the first deadline being 1 october 1970 and the second deadline being 30 june 1971), followed to withdrawn of provisional banknotes and old cruzeiro banknotes up to 1 cruzeiro "novo" in 30 june 1973, withdrawn of provisional and old cruzeiro banknotes of 5 and 10 cruzeiros "novos" in 30 june 1974 and 30 june 1975 respectively.

Banknotes up to 50 cruzeiros were withdrawn in 29 june 1984 and banknotes up to 500 cruzeiros were withdrawn in 30 june 1987. Banknotes of 1,000 and 5,000 cruzeiros were withdrawn in 15 january 1989 and other denominations were withdrawn with Plano Collor.

Bibliography

Brazilian cruzeiro novo/Brazilian cruzeiro (second iteration)

Preceded by: Cruzeiro (first iteration) Reason: inflation Ratio: 1 cruzeiro "novo" = 1000 cruzeiros "antigos"

Currency of Brazil 13 February 1967 – 28 February 1986

Succeeded by: Cruzado Reason: inflation Ratio: 1 cruzado = 1000 cruzeiros