Tostão 'L-C' - João IV 2nd series, Lisbon

João IV struck these coins immediately after the Restoration of 1640, when Portugal broke from sixty years of Iberian Union under the Spanish Habsburgs. The mint at Lisbon was scrambling to produce a distinctly Portuguese coinage as fast as dies could be cut — monetary independence being as urgent a political statement as any military action taken that December.

The 'L-C' mintmaster pairing identifies the assayer combination specific to this second series, distinguishing it from the transitional first-series pieces struck in the chaotic weeks immediately following the coup.