Brazil: Memorializing the Centavo

The Brazilian centavo is the monetary equivalent of a gnat’s noggin. Officially the world’s most minuscule denomination, it was—until last week —worth $.0000065, sixty-five one-hundred thousandths of a U.S. cent. Valued at one twentieth of a cent ($.0005) when it was first issued in 1944, the centavo became a victim of Brazil’s roaring inflation, and last week the government finally declared it extinct. So is the one-cruzeiro note (worth 100 centavos), which cost four cruzeiros to print. From now on, cruzeiros up to the 500 denomination (value: 33¢) will be issued as coins. As for the centavo, it immediately became worth more dead than alive. Last week an early ten-centavo piece was fetching 500 cruzeiros from coin collectors.