Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
960 Réis - João Prince Regent Countermarked 8 Reales, Minas Gerais
| Issuer | Casa da Moeda (Minas Gerais Mint) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1808 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse retains the original design of the host Spanish 8 Reales coin, displaying a laureate and draped bust of King Carlos III facing right, with flowing hair tied at the nape. The circumferential legend reads CAROLUS • IIII • DEI • GRATIA in Latin characters. Beneath the truncation of the bust, a crowned oval Portuguese counterstamp displaying the armillary sphere — the symbol of the Brazilian colonial administration — has been applied, authenticating the coin's new denomination of 960 Réis. The field shows characteristic wear and adjustment marks consistent with a circulated host coin subsequently countermarked. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse presents the original Spanish colonial design of the host 8 Reales, featuring the crowned Arms of Castile and León — quartered with castles and lions — flanked by the Pillars of Hercules, each surmounted by a crown and entwined with a banner. The denomination 8R and the Mexico City mint mark M are visible to the left of the arms, accompanied by the assayer initials TH. The circumferential legend HISPAN • ET • IND • REX encircles the design. A prominent applied counterstamp of the Portuguese royal arms — the crowned shield bearing the Portuguese quinas within an oval beaded border — is struck over the lower central field of the reverse, validating the coin's re-tariffing as 960 Réis for circulation in colonial Brazil. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
In 1808, the Portuguese Crown — freshly arrived in Rio de Janeiro after fleeing Napoleon's invasion of Lisbon — urgently needed a circulating currency for Brazil. Rather than establish full minting operations immediately, the solution was pragmatic and quick: Spanish colonial 8 reales already in circulation were countermarked at provincial mints to re-denominate them as 960 réis. The Minas Gerais facility was one of several authorized to apply the punch, which accounts for the host coin variability that makes attribution within this type genuinely difficult.