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Tostão 'P-O' – João III 3rd type, Porto
| Issuer | Portugal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1555-1557 |
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| Currency | Real (1517-1835) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field displays the crowned Portuguese royal shield, featuring the quintas (five escutcheons arranged in a cross, each charged with five bezants in saltire) and the bordure of seven castles, all surmounted by an ornate royal crown. The mint mark 'P' appears to the left of the shield and 'O' to the right, identifying the Porto mint. A circular Latin legend surrounds the central device, reading IOANES III REX POR P-O, rendered in Gothic lettering typical of mid-sixteenth-century Iberian hammered coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (1555-1557) P-O - Gomes#J3 140 (17 known lettering variations) - ND (1555-1557) P-O - Gomes#J3 141 - |
| Additional information |
The tostão denomination — equivalent to 100 réis — was João III's workhorse silver coin for Iberian and overseas trade during an era when Portugal's empire stretched from Brazil to Malacca. The Porto mint's output during this specific window, 1555–1557, falls in the final years of João III's reign; he died in June 1557, leaving a three-year-old grandson as his heir and triggering a regency crisis. Porto production was always subsidiary to Lisbon, and surviving examples attributable to this mint carry a meaningful premium in completeness of the mintmark punch.
Gomes distinguishes J3 140 and J3 141 by die variations in the cross arrangement — a granular distinction that matters considerably for specialist attribution.