40 Réis - João Prince Regent Countermarked 20 Réis

These countermarked pieces were produced as an emergency measure to double the face value of existing 20 Réis copper coinage already in circulation, addressing a chronic shortage of small denomination currency in Portugal and its territories during the final decade of the eighteenth century. The host coins vary considerably in their state of wear at the time of countermarking, which is why strike quality on the applied punch ranges from sharp to barely legible depending on the surface it landed on.

João was acting as regent for his mother, Maria I, whose mental incapacity following a series of personal tragedies had left her unable to govern by the late 1790s.