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!
Ceitil - João II Group 2 - Arched wall with battlements
| Issuer | Portugal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1481-1495 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Copper |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| 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 | A crenellated castle with three towers rendered in a stylized, archaic manner rises prominently from a base of multiple horizontal waves, symbolizing the sea. The central tower is the tallest, flanked by two slightly lower towers, all depicted with battlements in the characteristic ceitil tradition. The design is contained within a plain inner border, with the circular legend running along the outer beaded border. The overall composition is struck in low relief typical of hammered Portuguese copper coinage of the late 15th century. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin (uncial) |
| 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 |
The ceitil — named either for Ceuta or, more plausibly, for the Arabic word for the smallest unit of account — was struck specifically for low-value daily commerce, the coin that paid for a handful of fish at a Lisbon market. João II inherited the denomination from his predecessors and continued it without interruption, though his issues introduced subtle architectural variations to the reverse type that numismatists now use to distinguish die groups. The arched wall design on Group 2 pieces differs in the rendering of the battlements from Group 1, a distinction recoverable only by direct comparison.
João II melted significant quantities of older copper coinage during his monetary reforms of the 1480s, inadvertently driving survival rates of earlier ceitis down while his own issues circulated in enormous volume.