5 Réis - José I Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro Mints

José I's copper réis coinage was struck simultaneously at Lisbon and at the Rio de Janeiro mint — an arrangement driven less by efficiency than by the practical impossibility of supplying colonial Brazil with sufficient small change from the metropole. The multiple Bentes references reflect distinct die varieties across the two mints, with the Rio strikes generally considered scarcer in European collections simply due to repatriation patterns rather than original mintage.

The great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 disrupted mint operations mid-series, and pieces struck in the years immediately following show inconsistencies in flan preparation traceable to the rebuilding of the Casa da Moeda under Pombal's reconstruction program.