1/2 Tostão - Sebastião I 1st type

Sebastião I was three years old when this coin was issued in his name, his minority government administered by his grandmother Catherine of Austria as regent. The 1st type tostão fractions struck in 1557 correspond to the very opening of his reign following the sudden death of João III — a reign that would end catastrophically at Alcácer Quibir in 1578, where Sebastião himself died in battle and triggered a succession crisis that ultimately delivered Portugal into sixty years of Spanish Habsburg rule.

The Gomes references Se 33 and Se 34 distinguish die variants within this type, a granularity worth noting when examining edge definition and crown positioning on surviving examples.