5 Réis - Maria II London mint

The Azores obtained dedicated copper coinage in this period partly because metropolitan Portuguese copper rarely reached the islands in sufficient quantity — the Atlantic transit made small-denomination supply chronically unreliable. This London-struck issue was produced under the regency authority of Maria II while she was still a minor, her father Pedro IV having abdicated the Portuguese throne in her favor in 1826 before returning to Brazil. The political situation was anything but settled; her uncle Miguel would seize power in 1828 and declare himself absolute king, meaning coins struck in Maria's name during this window carry the authority of a monarch actively being deposed.