Collectors say they stopped eating and even got into trouble at home because of the hobby.
It was by inheriting a small collection of old banknotes from his father that retired Alfredo Brandão, 68, took a liking to the thing. Since then he has collected as much as he can from the Cruzeiro, a coin issued in 1942, up to the present day. “As a child, I used Cruzeiro a lot to buy sweets, then I started collecting”, says Alfredo, conversing with Earth.
“I kept one banknote of each denomination – 1 Cruzeiro, two Cruzeiros, five Cruzeiros and so on – and completed them. But that’s not all. I started researching and saw that the banknotes were not running out. There are banknotes with different signatures of the finance ministers of the time, of the president of the Central Bank at the time. Change the signature, change the banknote, here is the business thickens”, laughs the pensioner, who is one of the enthusiasts of numismatics, a science that studies banknotes and coins.
Periods of economic chaos experienced by Brazil, such as in the 1980s, are recorded in the folders of his collection. “We experienced runaway inflation. Money changed a lot. It was Cruzeiro, then Cruzado came, Cruzado Novo, Cruzeiro came back, Cruzeiro Real came and only later, in the 1990s, was the stabilization with Real has arrived,” he says.
Despite years of collecting old banknotes, eight banknotes still remain to complete his Cruzeiro collection. “The cheapest costs R $ 13,000,” she says. “I think it will be up to one of my heirs to complete.”
“The truth is, you’re never satisfied. You find a rare banknote and you want another. It’s like an addiction, which is good when you have the economic conditions to enjoy it,” says the retiree, who expects his collection to be valued between R$ 20 and R$ 30 thousand.
In addition to old banknotes and coins, Alfredo also collects old telephones and key rings. “I’ve always collected key rings, so do you think my wife had a collection like that too? When we got married we also collected our key rings.”
Watch your money
The pensioner also says that defective banknotes or coins can be worth a lot of money: so it’s always good to keep them and consult an expert. “In 2012, for example, the Central Bank issued 50 cent coins without the 0. It was a mistake. At the time, the BC asked the Brazilians to return the coin, but whoever kept it is fine, because today it is worth more than a thousand reais”, details.
“That’s why every note or coin I collect I analyze to see if it’s not rare. If you don’t know, you end up spending much more valuable money than it seems,” completes the retiree.
He stopped eating and got into trouble at home
It was a simple note for one Guarani, money from Paraguay, that Luiz Seleguini, 61, learned was bitten by the collectors bug. The money, which belonged to his grandfather, quickly multiplied into a collection which, according to the pensioner, is worth no less than R$100,000.
The passion for banknotes and coins also had an impact on Luiz’s life. “When I was about seven or eight years old, I ran out of school lunch because I used my own money to buy my classmates’ money. I traded a lot of lunch for old coins, see?” he said in conversation with the report. .
As a child, Luiz started working as a shoe shiner and another similar situation occurred. “I saw my father take a brand new 100 Cruzeiro bill and spend it in a vending machine. I kept that bill in my head. Then I took my money, told my mother I was going to buy some candy, and I bought that bill at the vending machine. My mother ended up finding out and got angry. I still have that grade.
Already older and married, Luiz nearly turned his collection into a nasty fight at home. A resident of Americana (SP), he traveled to São Paulo to shop for his wife. The idea was to pick up some clothes in the Brás neighborhood. “But there I met a man who had Réis banknotes, the currency at the time of the Brazilian Empire. I gave everything I had and took the money for me. I didn’t eat and had to go home by train, which was much simpler and cheaper,” he explains.
“When I got home, my wife was furious with me because I didn’t buy what she asked for. I’ll tell you, the woman didn’t talk to me for a week,” he laughs. “And all because of a Guarani note, which I received as a child, and which she has fascinated me forever.”
Source: Terra
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