Description and research notes
This note represents a contemporary counterfeit of the Imperial Treasury of Brazil ten mil réis issue, produced during the active circulation period of the official banknote and intended to pass as legal tender in everyday commerce. Classified in standard references as Pick A231x, it is a period forgery rather than a later reproduction or fantasy piece, created using materials, engraving methods, and paper consistent with mid-nineteenth-century Brazilian monetary circulation.
Contemporary counterfeits occupy a distinct and historically important category within paper money studies. Unlike modern reproductions, they were produced to deceive during circulation and therefore interacted directly with the economy, merchants, and the public. In the Brazilian Empire under Dom Pedro II, paper currency circulated widely across a vast territory with uneven enforcement and limited centralized oversight, conditions that created both opportunity and incentive for skilled counterfeit production.
The design closely imitates the official Imperial issue, including the central allegorical vignette, denomination cartouches, and surrounding geometric rosette framework. The engraving demonstrates a high level of technical competence, reflecting the reality that contemporary forgers were often trained engravers or printers capable of producing imitations that challenged official security measures. Such counterfeits were not crude novelties but functional monetary intrusions that tested the resilience of Brazil’s paper money system.
This example is exceptional for its state of preservation. Most contemporary counterfeits survive today only in heavily worn condition, having circulated extensively and often been destroyed once detected. By contrast, this note remains in Choice Uncirculated condition with Exceptional Paper Quality. The EPQ designation confirms original paper integrity, intact fibers, and the absence of chemical processing or restoration, conditions rarely encountered in circulating forgeries of this era.
According to current publicly available PMG population data, this is the only EPQ-designated example recorded for the Pick A231x contemporary counterfeit type. While multiple examples of this counterfeit are known and graded, none approach this level of preservation or paper quality. Its significance therefore lies not in type rarity alone, but in its status as a condition outlier preserving the physical characteristics of a circulating nineteenth-century forgery in near-original state.
As a historical document, this note provides direct evidence of both the vulnerabilities of Imperial Brazilian paper currency and the sophistication of period counterfeit production. Its survival in such condition elevates it from a circulating curiosity to a reference-level object for the study of nineteenth-century monetary security, forgery practices, and everyday currency use within the Empire of Brazil.