Coins - the Português (10 cruzados)

There was 21.15 kg of gold, in the form of 1985 Spanish coins (about 15 kg) and 174 Portguese coins (about 6 kg) - basically one third by weight of the gold was of Portuguese origin.

The Spanish coins were excellentes in various sizes, from various mints and had been previously circulated, if the wear and tear was anything to go by. The small excellentes ranged (sample of 5) from 4.40 g to 4.43 g with a thickness of about 0.4 mm. The medium-sized excellentes (most of the coins came from this group) ranged from (sample of 5) 7.95 g to 8.04 g with a thickness of about 0.7mm. One of the large ones weighed 14.95g (1.0 mm thick, marked "4k").

The Portuguese coins were in mint condition, and had clearly not been circulated. They were all Portuguese 10 cruzados and had all been struck at the same time, maybe sequencially and using the same lower die. The images on the upper dies were all identical, but near-microscopic differences reveal that two different dies had been used. The gold coins were all found together and all clearly came out of the same single chest. A sample of 10 coins showed a weight range from 36.09 g to 36.28 g, with a thickness of about 1.8 mm and a diameter of about 38 mm.

Here’s a table with values for the “Português” buying power (1 português = 10 cruzados gold = 3900 reais), taken from the accounting books of the Monastery of Santa Cruz, in Coimbra, years 1534/35*



Amount bought by one “Português”:

Cereals

Wheat: 1186,3 liters
Barley: 1186,3 liters
Rice: 162,5 kg

Diverse food stapples

Honey: 355,9 liters
Wine: 688,2 liters
Saffron: 1,4 kg
Dried raisins: 195,0 kg

Cação (shark-like dried fish): 425,5
Sável (riverine fish): 93,6
Sardines: 24375,0
Pescadas secas (dried deep water fish): 180,0

Farm animals

Rams: 26,0
Working horse: 0,4
Goats: 33,9
Ox: 1,6

Textiles

Rough cloth: 27,3 m
Covilhã's cloth: 14,8 m
Linen: 85,8 m
Damscus: 6,8 m
Sail-like textile: 122,6 m

The Portuguese were prestigious coins and were struck by two kings only, Dom Manuel I and Dom João III, with the African gold bartered in the Mina fortress with the copper artifacts (bracelets, "pissing" pots, "barber" dishes) bought in Antwerp (as as a matter of fact, they were so prestigious - being the heavier and purer gold coin of the period - and so well accepted in the Asian markets that a lot of Northern Europe countries and provinces - Hamburg, Augsburg, Denmark, etc. - struck gold coins almost exactly like the Portuguese; they are called "portugaloser")

Made of almost pure gold (24 kt), the Portugueses not only were heavily sent abroad (to India to buy pepper and to Flanders to buy copper, artillery, nautical items, etc.) they were also drained from the country by the foreign merchants established in Lisbon - and subsequently re-melted in their countries, in order to make currency that was substantially weaker in gold content (22 kt or even lower), with huge gains for the merchant. Thus, the lack of gold currency in Portugal caused a lot of public outcry, with the people complaining to the King in the royal assemblies of 1525 and 1535 :

"may your Highness do something about the gold currency of this Kingdom, the said coins being taken abroad so much that we cannot find a single cruzado, or Portuguese or any gold coin of this Kingdom, only coins from other Kingdoms, cut in their weights and cut in the gold Law"