Brazil 1955 50 centavos
In 1942, during the presidency of Getulio Vargas, the réis was dropped as a unit of currency after 400 years and the cruzeiro adopted. To mark the occasion, all new coins were released with the ten, twenty and fifty centavos featuring the bust of Vargas. The fifty centavos of 1948-56 was aluminum bronze but was switched to aluminum for 1957-61. President Dutra, depicted here, was still alive and in office when this coin was circulated. His pimpled face is the result of die rust. The cruzeiro itself survived only until 1967, the victim of uncontrolled inflation.
Wikipedia comments, "Eurico Gaspar Dutra (18 May 1883 – 11 June 1974) was a Brazilian military leader and politician who served as the 16th president of Brazil from 1946 to 1951. He was the first president of the Fourth Brazilian Republic, which followed the Vargas Regime."
Recorded mintage: 27,150,000.
Specification: 5 g, aluminum bronze, 21.3 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM 563.
- Amato, Claudio, and Irlei S. Neves, Livro das Moedas do Brasil, 14a ed. Sao Paulo, 2015.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Pimentel, Alvaro Mendes, Catálogo de Moedas Brasileiras de 1643 a 1962, 9a Ed., Rio de Janeiro, 1962.
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