75 Réis - João VI Minas Gerais

The Vila Rica mint — operating out of what is now Ouro Preto — struck these copper pieces during a period of profound administrative awkwardness: João VI was simultaneously King of Portugal and ruler of Brazil following the Braganza court's flight from Lisbon in 1807, making Brazil the only New World colony to ever host a reigning European monarch. The Minas Gerais issues were regional stopgap coinage, produced to address chronic small-denomination shortages in the interior mining districts well away from the coastal mints at Rio and Bahia.

Die alignment and striking quality vary considerably across the 1818–1821 run, a predictable consequence of the Vila Rica facility working with aging equipment and irregular copper supply.