2 Macutas - José I

Angola's macuta coinage was introduced in 1762 as part of a broader Portuguese effort to regularize trade currencies in its African territories, where commodity money — particularly cloth — had long dominated exchange. The macuta denominations were specifically calibrated for the slave trade economy operating out of Luanda, where Portuguese merchants required fractional silver for local transactions that larger metropolitan coinage couldn't efficiently serve.

José I's reign coincided with the sweeping administrative reforms of the Marquis of Pombal, who drove much of this colonial monetary standardization. Production spanned several years with minor die variations across the run, accounting for the Gomes suffix notation.