640 Réis - Maria I Bahia Mint

Maria I's cognitive decline, well-documented by the late 1790s, left Portugal effectively governed by her son João as Prince Regent from 1799 onward — the very year this Bahia issue opens. The colonial Brazilian mints continued striking in her name throughout, a bureaucratic inertia that persisted until her death in 1816 despite her having no meaningful executive role for nearly two decades.

The Bahia mint had a chronic problem with planchet preparation during this period, and survivors from this series frequently show adjustment marks — file striations made by mint workers reducing overweight blanks to specification before striking.