6400 Réis - João V 1st Type of Shield, Bahia Mint

João V launched Brazil's first domestically struck gold coinage in 1695, but the 6400 réis represented the apex of that system — a coin whose face value was calibrated directly to the going rate of a standard Portuguese gold dobra. The Bahia mint, established decades before its Rio de Janeiro rival, handled the bulk of early Brazilian gold production precisely because Bahia's port gave the Crown the fastest route to Lisbon for remittance payments and merchant settlement.

The "1st Type of Shield" designation distinguishes this short emission from later amended dies introduced after 1730, when the escutcheon arrangement was revised. Four years of production across four Bentes varieties suggests active but not prolific output — consistent with the erratic flow of interior gold arriving at coastal counting houses during this period.