Quartinho - João VI Lisboa mint

The Quartinho — equivalent to 400 réis — was minted in Lisbon during a politically fractured moment: João VI had finally returned to Portugal in 1821 after thirteen years in Rio de Janeiro, where the royal court had fled Napoleon's 1807 invasion. His return was effectively forced by the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which had convened a Cortes in his absence and was rewriting the constitutional order entirely. Gold coinage from these years reflects a monarchy scrambling to reassert itself on home soil while its Brazilian territories moved steadily toward the independence declared the following year.