1000 Réis - Alfonse VI Counterstamp 'Crowned 1' over '1 Cruzado, João IV'

Afonso VI's counterstamp program of the 1660s was a fiscal response to the ongoing Restoration War against Spain, which had drained Portuguese treasury reserves since 1640. Rather than strike new gold coinage outright, the crown revalued existing João IV cruzados by applying a crowned numeral punch, effectively raising their tariffed exchange rate and extracting additional revenue from coin already in circulation. The operation was crude by design — speed mattered more than precision — and the counterstamp placement varies considerably across survivors.

Afonso VI was deposed by his own brother Pedro in 1668, which brackets the upper end of this issue's production window precisely.