W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

524 The Coins of Europe
A peculiarity of this important episode is the repudiation
in 1640 by John IV. of the intruding rulers for on his
;
coins the chronological sequence noted from the time of
John III. (1521-57) follows the cardinal Henry, equally
ignoring the bastard Dom Antonio. There is little doubt
that in the coin (10 reales) of John III., where he is termed
Rex Sextvs Decimvs, the word Sextus is a mistake for Quintus,
since he was actually the fifteenth from Alfonso I., and in
fact his successor is described as the sixteenth, and John IV.
the eighteenth king, the enumeration reckoning Henry
(1578-80) as the seventeenth, and skipping the Spanish
interlopers, although Philip II. (I. of Portugal) equally claims
to be the eighteenth of the line.
The Restoration of 1 640 was not attended by any
decline in the volume or fabric of the coinage, and some
curious novelties in type and style are assignable to the
period covered by the reigns of John IV. and his more immediate
successors. We now first meet with the gold piece
of 4800 reis, called the concei$ao or conception, the 3 and i^reis
in copper while the silver cruzado =
;
4 tostoes and its half
came into regular circulation, and many of the coins bear
dates in the angles of the cross on reverse or in the exergue.
The copper money of Pedro II., who as regent and king
governed from 1667 to 1706, is remarkable for the elegance
of its
workmanship ; the values from 10 to i^reis
are tastefully
enclosed in a tressure. The difficulty of procuring the
Portuguese currency throughout this and the preceding epoch
from the death of Sebastian in I 578 to the accession of John
V. in 1706 is, however, very great, if condition is a
desideratum, since the majority of specimens are very poor,
and are constantly disfigured and defaced by countermarks.
The pages of Fernandes are of course replete with particulars
and illustrations of the numismatic products of a second very
lengthened reign, that of Joilo or John V., 1706-50.
The tendency of the present, in common with other
series, as the earlier period is left behind, is to grow less
complex and characteristic and proportionately less interesting.
Severely modified political and commercial circum-