Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Macuta - João Prince Regent
| Issuer | Kingdom of Portugal (for Angola) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1814-1819 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Real (18th century-1914) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Crowned Portuguese royal coat of arms displayed centrally in the field, featuring the quartered escutcheon with the traditional quinas and the castles of the Kingdom of Portugal, surmounted by a royal crown. The armillary sphere, symbolizing Portugal's overseas dominions, flanks the shield on either side. A circular legend runs along the periphery, reading JOANNES·D·G·PORT·P·REGENSE·D·GUINEÆ·, identifying João as Prince Regent by the Grace of God of Portugal and the Algarves, Lord of Guinea. The design is executed in a bold, high-relief style typical of colonial copper coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field bears the denomination inscription MACUTA split across two lines with the numeral 1 below, all separated by small six-petalled rosette ornaments arranged symmetrically around the lettering. The entire central design is enclosed within a raised inner beaded border circle. An outer circular legend reads AFRICA·PORTUGUEZA·1814, identifying the issuing territory as Portuguese Africa with the date, running between the beaded inner border and the coin's milled rim. The overall layout is clean and well-centered, consistent with official colonial milled coinage of the Joannine era. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Angola's macuta coinage occupied a strange administrative position — technically Portuguese colonial issue but struck to a currency system inherited from older Central African trade conventions, where the macuta (or makuta) had long functioned as an indigenous unit of account before European authorities formalized it in copper. The João VI issues of this period were struck while the royal court was still seated in Rio de Janeiro, having fled Napoleon's 1807 invasion of Lisbon, meaning the administrative authority behind this coin resided on a different continent than either the mint or the intended circulation.