5 Mil Reis

The Thesouro do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul issued regional paper money under an arrangement that survived well into the twentieth century, longer than most Brazilian states managed. This 1930 note arrives at a politically charged moment: the October 1930 revolution that brought Getúlio Vargas to power — himself a gaúcho, a former governor of Rio Grande do Sul — effectively ended the Old Republic and with it the fiscal autonomy that had allowed states like this one to sustain their own treasury emissions.

Printed locally by Lithographia do Livro do Estado in Porto Alegre rather than outsourced to European or Rio de Janeiro printers, the note reflects the state's deliberate self-sufficiency. Post-1930, federal consolidation made further state-level issues politically untenable.