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2000 Réis - João V Vila Rica Mint
| Issuer | Casa da Moeda de Vila Rica |
|---|---|
| Year | 1724-1727 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central device features a large cross pattée composed of four capital letters M arranged in quadrants, representing the Vila Rica (Minas) mint mark repeated fourfold, set within a stylised cross whose arms taper toward the centre. The date appears at the top of the circular legend, and the motto IN HOC SIGNO VINCES runs around the remainder of the periphery, punctuated by small floral or rosette stops. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded border. The bold, monogram-based reverse design is characteristic of the Brazilian colonial gold coinage of João V. |
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| Reverse lettering | IN HOC SIGNO VINCES 1724 (Translation: With this Sign you will Win.) |
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| Additional information |
The Vila Rica mint — established in 1725 in the heart of Minas Gerais — was created specifically to coin gold closer to its source, reducing the chronic losses from transporting raw metal overland to Bahia or Rio de Janeiro. Smuggling had been so rampant along those routes that the Portuguese Crown calculated the new facility would pay for itself within months.
Production at Vila Rica was always tightly supervised by the Crown and notoriously short-lived; the mint operated for barely a decade before political pressure and fiscal reorganization shut it down. Coins from the 1724–1727 window predate even the formal establishment year recorded by some sources, a discrepancy tied to trial strikings authorized before the facility received its full royal charter.