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500 Réis - Afonso VI Countermarked 400 Réis
| Issuer | Brazil |
|---|---|
| Year | 1663 |
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| Composition | Silver (.9166) |
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| Obverse description | Host coin displaying the Portuguese crowned cross of the cruzado type, struck under João IV or Afonso VI, with a circular beaded border enclosing a partial Latin legend in the field. Applied prominently at center is a rectangular crowned countermark bearing the numeral '500' in bold relief, surmounted by a royal crown, applied by decree of 22 March 1663 under King Afonso VI to revalue circulating 400 réis cruzados to 500 réis. The underlying cross design, composed of four broad arms radiating from the center, remains partially visible beneath the countermark. The overall strike is irregular, consistent with hammered coinage of the period. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
This piece began life as a Portuguese 400 Réis macuçço — crudely struck hammered silver of the type produced in Brazilian colonial mints at Bahia — before being officially countermarked to circulate at the elevated value of 500 Réis under a 1663 royal order issued in the name of Afonso VI. The revaluation was a fiscal maneuver to retain silver in the colony, which was hemorrhaging coinage to Portugal and to contraband trade networks across the Atlantic.
Locating a specimen where both the host coin and the applied countermark are legible is genuinely difficult. The base macuçços were irregular flans to begin with.