A Collection Of Coins From Portugal

2 more great coins. The only commemorative 50 escudo I have is the 1971 Bank of Portugal.

Steve :)

Looking good!

Nice additions. :)

While this coin was around while I was still in Portugal, I don't remember it. I remember the copper 10 Centavos, but not the Aluminum. It could be they get dark quick with usage. They are also tiny coins. Smallest of the Portuguese coins in my collection.





Issuer: Portugal
Period: Second Republic (1926-1974)
Type: Standard circulation coin
Years: 1969-1979
Value: 10 Centavos (0.10 PTE)
Currency: Escudo (1911-2001)
Composition: Aluminium
Weight: 0.5 g
Diameter: 15 mm
Thickness: 1.36 mm
Shape: Round
Orientation: Coin alignment
Demonetized: 02-28-2002
References: KM# 594, Schön# 53
Mintage (1971): 25,673,000

Of the circulating clad coinage, the 2$50 and 5$00 were my favorite, they evoked Portugal's era of discovery. I already posted the 2$50, here is 5$00




Issuer: Portugal
Period: Second Republic (1926-1974)
Type: Standard circulation coin
Years: 1963-1986
Value: 5 Escudos (5 PTE)
Currency: Escudo (1911-2001)
Composition: Copper-nickel
Weight1: 7 g
Diameter: 24.5 mm
Thickness: 2.02 mm
Shape: Round
Orientation: Coin alignment
Demonetized: 02-28-2002
References: KM# 591
Mintage (1969): 3,571,000

The next 2 days posts are the coins I purchased because of Steve

Looking good!

So who was Prince Henry the Navigator?

Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 - 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (Portuguese: Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15th-century European maritime discoveries and maritime expansion. Through his administrative direction, he is regarded as the main initiator of what would be known as the Age of Discovery. Henry was the fourth child of the Portuguese King John I.

After procuring the new caravel ship, Henry was responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and the search for new routes. He encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta (1415), the Muslim port on the North African coast across the Straits of Gibraltar from the Iberian Peninsula. He learned of the opportunities offered by the Saharan trade routes that terminated there, and became fascinated with Africa in general; he was most intrigued by the Christian legend of Prester John and the expansion of Portuguese trade. He is regarded as the patron of Portuguese exploration.

He established a court in Sagres on the South/westernmost point in Portugal In the 1400's this was the end of the known world. Sea Monsters lie west. But for all his discoveries, they weren't done just for knowledge. There was money to be made by exploiting these new found lands.
Initially there was a romantic view that Sagres was a school for navigation, but the more critical view rather than a nautical school in the modern sense of the word, Sagres was a meeting place for sailors and scientists to exchange information and techniques regarding maps, shipbuilding and organize expeditions. According to this view, the Portuguese learned navigation in a practical way, on the decks of the ships.

I've been to Sagres, and it is the end of the road. To the west and south lie only ocean. The court Prince Henry made is still there. There is some dispute whether this was actually a school but Cartographers and others that helped with navigation were employed by Infante D. Henrique. The true story maybe lost to the ages.



And while the court sits on a promontory, the whole coast is a hundred feet below the land. Still nice place to go for vacation.