A Collection Of Coins From Portugal

Thanks for sharing the coins and providing the very interesting stories and pictures to go along with them!

Today's coin is 500 Reis from 1898 and it commemorates the 400th anniversary of establishing the colony of Portuguese India (Goa). This is one of the few coins that feature both the King and Queen of Portugal.

I like simple reverse and having both rulers actually gives the coin more appeal to me.

One reason I wanted this coin is that my great-great grandfather was from Goa. In the early 1900's a lot of the Portuguese males had left to either join the army or went to the colonies. This resulted in a lack of labor for the farms. Portugal offered citizenship to all the natives of the colonies if they came to work on the farms, my great great grandfather was one of those. He came from Goa and worked on a large ranch near where my great great grandmother lived. They eventually married and had children. The family seems to have worked hard as they were able to acquire several large parcels of lands, which my grandmother eventually inherited and passed on to my mom (which my mom is currently selling off as her children are in the US). I don't have any other history as that was the only genealogy I was able to find out. A cousin was able to trace back most of our family, but since much of the family were poor farmers, there wasn't much in terms of pictures or other written history. Considering the culture in Portugal at the time, marrying a person from Goa may have been scandalous. But I digress.

The coin, these actually circulated, many are in XF to AU as the monarchy only lasted 12 years after they were released.




Issuer: Portugal
King Carlos I (1889-1908)
Type: Circulating commemorative coin
Year : 1898
Value: 500 Reis
Currency: Real (decimalized, 1835-1910)
Composition: Silver (.917)
Weight: 12.5 g
Diameter: 31 mm
Shape: Round
Orientation: Coin alignment
Demonetized: Yes
References: KM538
Mintage: 300,000

I posted previously about the overthrow of the New State and the establishment of the 3rd republic, so I won't cover that again, you can read about it in this Link: http://goccf.com/t/407854&whichpage=9#3516542

Today's coin is the circulating version of the proof coin posted. Although I never saw this coin circulate. It was minted in 1976.





Issuer: Portugal
Period: Third Republic (1974-date)
Type: Circulating commemorative coin
Year : 1976
Value: 100 Escudos (100 PTE)
Currency: Escudo (1911-2001)
Composition: Silver (.650)
Weight: 15 g
Diameter: 32 mm
Thickness: 2 mm
Shape: Round
Orientation: Coin alignment
Demonetized: Yes
References: KM 603
Mintage: 950,000

Thanks for sharing these latest coins and the interesting story about your ancestors. I've had a lot more luck with the genealogy on my mom's side of the family, as several branches trace back to somewhat prominent families in the 18th and 19th centuries. My dad's side has been much tougher, as many generations were poor farm families in very rural areas and a lot of records were never kept or are simply lost.

My last coin..

Today you get a 20 Reis

A little history or Portuguese money (coins)

The Reis are precursor to the escudo.

Portuguese money went from Mealha> Dinheiro> Hammered Real>Decimal Real (Reis)>Escudo > Euro

Reals/Reis were essentially worthless with 1000 Reis equaling 1 Escudo. So 10 Reis equal 1 Centavo. 20 Reis converts to 2 centavos which is equal to .01 Euro cents.

There were a few funny names for Reis.

20 Reis were called a Vintem

40 Reis were called a Patuca

1000 Reis or 1 escudo was called a pau (stick). Even as late as the 1980's Sometimes you go to the store and the price was 2$50 escudos and the shop keeper would say 2 paus 500. Or 2500 Reis.

1 million Reis or 1000 escudos were called a Conto

There was also a pattern created of 80 Reis which the public called a Maluco as the weight increased from 25 Grams (20 Reis) to 40 grams (40 Reis) and to ~ 80 Grams (80 Reis)

The funny part is that Maluco is slang for a crazy person/thing. Probably why the mint never made a maluco!
Also an 80 gram (2.8 oz) coin is pretty heavy.

The coin






Issuer: Portugal
King Luís I (1861-1889)
Type: Standard circulation coin
Years: 1867-1874
Value: 20 Reis
Currency: Real (decimalized, 1835-1910)
Composition: Copper
Weight: 25.53 g
Diameter: 37 mm
Shape: Round
Demonetized: Yes
References: KM 515
Mintage: 1,575,000

Seems like Portugal had a perpetual turbulent time, reflected in its numerous debasements and demonetizations.
The Netherlands, by comparison, was basically a snooze-fest.

Hfjacinto, thank you for your journey through Portugal and the great additions to your collection.