Description and research notes
Specimen of the 100 Cruzeiros printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd., marked by a red SPECIMEN overprint, punch cancels, and De La Rue control ovals at the margin. Identified as Estampa 2A / Série 216A, this note typifies the elegant late-period Cruzeiro designs that bridged classic British engraving with emerging modernist trends in Brazilian note art.
The 100 Cruzeiros denomination circulated widely during Brazil’s economic expansion of the early 1960s, when De La Rue supplied notes to maintain consistency with earlier layouts established under the Tesouro Nacional. Engraving quality remained high, characterized by intricate borders, multi-tone shading, and mechanical guilloche patterns that enhanced both beauty and counterfeit resistance.
Specimens were integral to De La Rue’s quality-control and marketing practices, distributed to client archives and central banks to showcase technical competence. Surviving examples such as this provide a direct visual record of Brazil’s partnership with British printers during one of the most active decades in its numismatic history, preceding the revaluation that replaced the Cruzeiro in 1967.