In the last post I showed the obverses of two incredible Portuguese gold coins that are called Pintos. Pintos are the smallest gold coins from Portugal.  They weigh between 1.07 g and 1.1 g, and are between 14 mm and 15 mm in diameter for different rulers. They all have a fineness of 0.9166, which leads to between 0.98 g and 1.0 g of pure gold in every Pinto.

In order to provide a better feeling for the size of the Pintos I compare them with US $1 gold pieces.  The Portuguese Pintos are smaller than the US $1 gold pieces, which weigh 1.67 g, and are between 13 mm and 15 mm in diameter depending on the type. So they have a similar diameter, but the Pintos are thinner than the US $1 gold pieces.  All three types of US gold pieces have a fineness of 0.9, which leads to 1.5 g of pure gold, which is approximately 50% more than is contained in the Portuguese Pintos.
 

Pintos were minted in Lisbon during the reigns of the following rulers:

•    D. Joao V - The Magnanimous (1706-1750)
•    D. Jose I - The Reformer (1750-1777)
•    D. Maria I and D. Pedro III (1777-1786)
•    D. Maria I - The Pious (1786-1799)
•    D. Joao - Prince Regent (1799-1816)
•    D. Joao VI – The Clement (1816-1826)
o    Brazil’s Independence (September 7, 1822)

The last Pinto was minted in 1821, the year prior to Brazil’s independence.  In addition, Portugal also discontinued minting three other denominations of small gold coins after 1821.  Portugal only continued minting the larger denomination gold coins, i.e., half Pecas and Pecas. This change in their gold coinage was probably made because of the uncertainty surrounding Brazil’s independence in 1822. 

The Pintos that are shown in the header in the last post were minted for D. Joao V, in 1736, and for D. Jose I in 1771. Here I provide information about the 5 coins shown in this post’s header, i.e., Ruler, date, mint, denomination, grade, NGC population (total, same grade, higher grade) and the side of the coin in the photograph. All these coins were struck by the Lisbon, Portugal mint without a mint mark.

•    D. Jose I “Jose type”, 1752, Pinto (480 Reis), gold, NGC MS65, (2,1,0) – Reverse
•    D. Jose I “Jose type”, 1752, Pinto (480 Reis), gold, NGC MS65, (2,1,0) – Obverse
•    D. Maria I, 1780, Pinto (480 Reis), gold, NGC MS66, (5,1,0) - Obverse
•    D. Joao Prince Regent, 1807, Pinto (480 Reis), gold, NGC MS66, (5,1,0) - Obverse
•    D. Joao VI, 1818, Pinto (480 Reis), gold, NGC MS63, (4,1,2) - Obverse

The picture on the far left shows the reverse of a Pinto that was minted during D. Jose’s reign. The coin reverses are very similar for the Pintos for all the rulers except for minor variations. The Pinto reverses include the date, a flanked (Jerusalem) cross with a single dot in the center, and quatrefoils in the four quadrants of the cross. Quatrefoils are defined as “an ornamental design of four lobes or leaves as used in architectural tracery, resembling a flower or four-leaf clover.”  These quatrefoils are often used by the Lisbon mint in locations on the coin where the branch mints would place their mint marks.  I will show an example of this in my next post.   

The reverses of all the Pintos also include the Latin phrase “IN HOC SIGNO VINCES”, which translates to either "In this sign thou shalt conquer" or "By this sign, conquer".   According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_hoc_signo_vinces ), The bishop Eusebius of Caesaria, a historian, states that Constantine was marching with his army when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words that translate into Latin as “in hoc signo vinces”, which is the legend on many Portuguese coins like the Pinto.

The Pinto obverses have some common features, many of which change with the ruler: 1) the denomination (400 Reis); 2) a crown with a cross; 3) the name (sometimes abbreviated) of the ruler/rulers written below the crown; and 4) ornaments like sprigs or branches with leaves. 

The second coin from the left was minted during the reign of D. Jose I and is labeled the “Jose” type because Jose I is written below the crown.  On the other hand, the middle coin in the previous post on Collecting Portuguese Coins, was also minted during the reign of D. Jose I, but it is labeled as an “Iose” type because Iose I is written below the crown on this coin. 

The middle coin in the banner includes the phrase “Maria.I ET.P.III” with dots between each of the words.  The dots allow the words to be placed closer together, thereby allowing larger fonts to be used. This phrase indicates that D. Maria I and D. Pedro III were the rulers at the time this coin was minted. The fourth and fifth coins are labeled as “Joannes P.R.” and “Joan VI”, which stand for D. Joao when he was Prince Regent and king, respectively.

In 1688 the price of gold and silver increased by around 20%. Since there was no time to collect and recast the circulating coins, by the Law of August 04, 1688, the value of all silver and gold coins was also increased by 20% in Portugal. During the next 150 years or so, the coinage denominations remained unchanged with the circulating coins having a value approximately 20% above the face value. Therefore, in the case of Pintos, their circulating value was 480 Reis.

You can see all of the Portuguese Pinto types in the following denomination type set: Gold 400 Reis, Type Set, 1718-1821, Circulation Issue, https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/364386/

I really like denomination type sets because they allow you to see how the coin designs for a given denomination change as the rulers change.  The comments that I made in the above Pinto type set are shown below.

The following attributes make the Portugal 400 Reis Gold type set an interesting set to collect:

•    These coins are beautiful little jewels.
•    Portugal struck 400 Reis gold coins between 1718 and 1821.
•    During this period there were four different rulers (five if you include Pedro III).
•    There are seven different type coins in this set.
•    Since there are only seven types, this set might be easier to complete than other type sets.
•    While the reverses for the different types are fairly similar, there are a number of different and interesting obverse designs on these type coins.
•    All of the 400 Reis gold coin types can be found in high grades. 
•    Although they can be found, some of the 400 Reis gold coin types are very scarce. 
•    It’s amazing that 200- to 300-year-old coins have survived in such very high states of preservation.
•    Portugal also struck 400 Reis silver coins, which were much larger coins and were struck over a longer period of time than the gold ones.