Ceitil - João II Group 1

The ceitil was Portugal's lowest denomination through much of the fifteenth century, and João II inherited a denomination already associated with Ceuta — the North African garrison city whose name almost certainly gave the coin its own. Supplying Ceuta was a chronic drain on the Crown, and the ceitil existed in part because small copper coinage was essential for paying the laborers, soldiers, and traders who kept that outpost functional.

João II's reform of the monetary system after 1481 reorganized copper coinage as part of broader fiscal consolidation, producing the distinct groupings collectors now classify by die characteristics. Group 1 represents the earliest production under his reign.