Bidspirit auction | Portugal D. Duarte I (1433-1438)

Portugal D. Duarte I (1433-1438) Real Branco Porto Billon Monetary letter to right. This example shares obverse dies with one of the examples from the Novo Banco collection (DU 04.05 3.3 g) and reverse dies with the example from the Casa of the coin Museum (MCM 4730 4.2 g) and another known example with ”normal” silver content. Its copper content (97%) makes it to numismatic document of enormous importance, because it proves that the mint itself placed examples on the market without the official composition in order to obtain financing. In to way, we can say that it proves that there were ”official counterfeits” produced at the mint. These would be examples that were laundered before entering circulation and prove that D. Duarte was unable to change the depreciation behaviour of circulating coins that were common during the reign of João I. This type of activity was already known, for example, during the reigns of Roman emperors in the 3rd century. AG: 04.05 1.25 g VERY RARE Good VF