2000 Réis - Pedro II Rio de Janeiro Mint

The 2000 réis gold denomination was introduced under Portuguese colonial monetary reform as Brazil's gold deposits — particularly from Minas Gerais, where the great gold rush had begun in the late 1690s — made a coherent coinage policy urgent. The Rio de Janeiro mint itself only opened in 1703, making this among its earliest productions.

Pedro II here refers to Dom Pedro II of Portugal, not the Brazilian emperor of the 19th century — a distinction that trips up collectors unfamiliar with the colonial series.