Seems the "super market encyclopedia" did not get Salazar's name right, and "fascism" is an awfully broad term, but at least it knew that his regime was a dictatorship. The Tomar coin (Convento de Cristo) I have too; and what I like about contemporary (21st century) coins from Portugal is that they experiment a lot - many traditional designs and many "modern-abstract" ones too. That Unesco Heritage series is very interesting; I got most of them. What is also great (maybe not in terms of creative design but as a history "lesson") is the Historic Coinage series: From a 13c morabitino (2009) to the 19c peça (2013) ... Christian
Good timing on this thread. I purchased this lovely little unusual denomination coin last Thursday on eBay. She finally arrived today a week later. This is a 2 year type coin (1917 and 1919 only), and the denomination of 4 centavos is quite curious for a decimal system. The UK had 4 pence, but that was not in a decimal system. The 1919 coin was minted in more than 10 million pieces, but full gem BU examples are hard to hunt down. PCGS has graded 2 in MS65 (this is one of them) and NGC has graded only one in MS65. There are none graded higher by either TPG. A fairly common problem on this issue is a weakly struck lower portion/half of the 1919 date. This example has a nicely struck up date -- and some cool die cracks around the periphery on the side with the left facing woman. The satiny smooth lustrous surfaces are entrancing on this coin in hand. I hope I have captured them in the images.
This set of attractive pre-Euro coinage arrived yesterday. Why did I get it? I think these coins have great style, and sometimes I'm just that shallow. Ugh...I collect too many coins on a whim.
Getting adicted to portuguese monarchy coins: Azores X Reis 1830 III Reis 1804 V Reis 1812 V Reis 1874
Peninsular War Centennial marking victory over France 1000 reis PCGS AU 50. I love the reverse design with lion and the cannon.
Some Portugal gold coins circulated in the American colonies and the two below were favorite coin of pirates and buccaneers, and mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island. Portugal Gold 4000 Reis "Moidore" 1704 - Lisbon Mint Obverse: Jerusalem Cross and "IN HOC SIGNO VINCES / 1704" Reverse: Crowned shield of Portugal and "PETRVS II D G PORT ET ALG REX / 4000" Gold, 29mm, 10.71gm Portugal Gold 6400 Reis "Joe" 1738 - Rio de Janiero (Brazil) Mint Obverse: Bust of John V facing right and "IOHANNES V D G PORT ET ALG REX / R/1738" Reverse: Crowned shield of Portugal Gold, 31mm, 14.06gm