The ceitil was among the lowest denominations in the Portuguese monetary system, originally introduced in the fifteenth century and named — most plausibly — after Ceuta, the North African garrison city whose occupation demanded a constant supply of low-value coin for soldier pay and local trade. By João III's reign the denomination had already been circulating for over a century, and these later copper pieces were struck in enormous, poorly documented quantities to feed the expanding Atlantic and Indian Ocean trade networks where small change was chronically short.
Group 8 is distinguished by the castle's multi-layered high wall rendering, a die characteristic that helps separate it from the several other ceitil groups attributed to João III's long reign of 1521–1557.
The ceitil was among the lowest denominations in the Portuguese monetary system, originally introduced in the fifteenth century and named — most plausibly — after Ceuta, the North African garrison city whose occupation demanded a constant supply of low-value coin for soldier pay and local trade. By João III's reign the denomination had already been circulating for over a century, and these later copper pieces were struck in enormous, poorly documented quantities to feed the expanding Atlantic and Indian Ocean trade networks where small change was chronically short.
Group 8 is distinguished by the castle's multi-layered high wall rendering, a die characteristic that helps separate it from the several other ceitil groups attributed to João III's long reign of 1521–1557.