12 Vinténs - Maria I

The 12 vintém denomination — equal to 240 réis — was among the workhorses of late 18th-century Portuguese commerce, circulating heavily through Lisbon's markets and across the Atlantic trade routes connecting Portugal to Brazil. Maria I's reign began under promising circumstances in 1777 following her father José I's death, but by the mid-1790s she had descended into severe religious melancholia and eventual psychosis, with her son João effectively assuming governing authority by 1799 — the year this type ceases.

Gomes distinguishes two varieties across this run, M1 15 and M1 16, differentiated by die details accumulated over a thirteen-year production span at the Lisbon mint.