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40 Réis - Maria I Small Type, Lisbon Mint
| Issuer | Casa da Moeda de Lisboa (Lisbon Mint) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1799 |
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| Currency | Real (1799-1942) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central device features a terrestrial globe depicted as a meridian-and-parallel grid, rendered in bold relief with a diagonal band crossing the sphere from lower left to upper right, representing the armillary sphere or ecliptic band — a traditional Portuguese heraldic emblem. A small globus cruciger or orb finial appears at the apex of the globe. The circular legend surrounds the device between a beaded inner border and the milled outer rim, encircling the globe completely. The design symbolises Portuguese maritime dominion and global commerce, consistent with colonial copper coinage of the Maria I period. |
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| Reverse lettering | PECUNIA·TOTUM CIRCUMIT·ORBEM (Translation: Money circulates around the world.) |
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| Additional information |
By 1799, Maria I had been declared legally insane and her son João had assumed governance as Prince Regent, though she remained nominal queen until her death in 1816. Coins continued to be struck in her name throughout this period — a legal fiction maintained to preserve dynastic continuity. The "Small Type" designation distinguishes this issue from the heavier, larger 40 Réis struck earlier in her reign, a reduction reflecting chronic copper shortages and the mounting fiscal pressures of a Portugal increasingly entangled in Napoleonic-era Atlantic disruptions.