1/4 Euro Luís de Camões

Camões died in 1580 — the same year Philip II of Spain absorbed Portugal into the Iberian Union, a dynastic accident that would strip Portuguese sovereignty for sixty years. The timing made Camões, author of Os Lusíadas, a convenient national martyr, and his image has been conscripted for Portuguese commemorative coinage repeatedly since the nineteenth century.

The INCM's quarter-euro bullion series, launched in the 2000s, targets collectors rather than circulation, with mintages kept deliberately low.