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40 Reis - João Prince Regent countermarked coinage over D.JOAO V
| Issuer | Casa da Moeda do Brasil |
|---|---|
| Year | 1809 |
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| Reference(s) | KM#276, Gomes#348.03 |
| Obverse description | Central field displays the denomination 'XX' in large characters surmounted by a royal crown, with the date 1719 inscribed below between dots, all enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The surrounding legend reads IOANNES.V.DG.PET.BRASIL.REX, referencing King João V of Portugal. This obverse derives from the host coin, a 20 Réis piece struck under João V, which was subsequently countermarked by order of the Prince Regent to circulate as 40 Réis in 1809. The overall design retains the original die workmanship of the early 18th-century Lisbon Mint. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central device depicts an armillary sphere — a globe formed by intersecting meridian and latitude bands surmounted by a cross — emblematic of Portuguese maritime dominion and associated with the Lisbon Mint. The legend encircling the sphere reads PECVNIA.TOTVM.CIRCVMIT.ORBEM (Money travels the whole world), a motto standard on Portuguese colonial copper coinage of this period. The design is rendered in the flat, bold relief characteristic of early 18th-century hammered copper issues, with the legend running continuously around the periphery within the coin's rim. |
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| Additional information |
When the Portuguese court fled Lisbon ahead of Napoleonic forces in 1807, the Prince Regent João arrived in Brazil with an empty treasury and an immediate need for circulating copper. Rather than strike new coinage from scratch, the Casa da Moeda applied countermarks to existing 40 Reis pieces originally minted under João V — some of them decades old by 1809. It was a practical fiscal measure, not an elegant one, and the results show it: alignment of the countermark on host coins varies considerably, and worn underlying surfaces are the norm rather than the exception.