120 Réis - João IV Countermark '120' over 'Tostão'

João IV's accession in 1640 ended sixty years of Iberian Union and left Portugal scrambling to reconstitute functioning institutions — including a coinage infrastructure that had been subordinated to Spanish administrative priorities. Rather than strike entirely new silver, the crown ordered existing tostões countermarked to circulate at 120 réis, a revaluation that simultaneously asserted monetary independence and bought time before proper regal issues could be organized. The countermark program was authorized in 1642, just two years into the Restoration War against Castile, when every administrative shortcut mattered.

Specimens vary considerably in countermark placement and strike depth, a predictable consequence of applying punches to already-circulated host coins of inconsistent surface condition.