![Portuguese Empire, Brazil, Maria I & Pedro III, Peça, 1782R [ACP4-48] - Image 2](https://colonialcoins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/ACP4-48-1.jpg)
Description
Portuguese Empire, State of Brazil, Maria I ‘a Piedosa’ (‘the Pious’) and Pedro III ‘o Edificador’ (‘the builder’) of the House of Braganza, Dona and Dom of Portugal 1777-1816 AD, Gold Peça of 6,400 Reis (14.31g, 32mm), 1782 R, ‘Casa da Moeda do Brasil’ (‘House of Money of Brazil’), Rio de Janeiro city, Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro. Obverse: Jugate busts of Dona Maria I and Dom Peter III facing to the right, each laureate, Maria I wears flowing dress fastened at shoulder and breast, Pedro III cuirassed; date and mintmark “R” (‘Rio de Janeiro’) below, legend surrounds, “MARIA· I· ET· PETRUS· III· D·G· PORT· ET· ALG· REGES·”. Reverse: Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Portugal (comprising five escutcheons in cross, each charged with five plates in saltire, all within a bordure charged with seven castles) surmounted by the heraldic Portuguese Royal Crown, the Arms presented in a highly decorative, cartouche-style frame with elaborate scrolling foliage and flourishes. Bentes 253.07; KM-199.2. A nice and lustrous example of the double-portrait issue of Maria I and Pedro III, a light mark on the cheek, near Extremely Fine.
The obverse Latin legend reads “Marīa prīmus et Petrus tertius, Deī Grātiā, Portucalis et Algarviae Rēgēs”, with an English translation of “Maria the first and Peter the third, by the Grace of God, Rulers of Portugal and the Algarve”.
By Alvará on the 4th April 1722 AD, King João V ‘o Rei-Sol Português’ formally established a new ‘escudo-based’ gold coinage system which was centred on one Escudo being equivalent to one Portuguese oitava of 22 quilates (synonymous with carat) of gold, and each Escudo having 1,600 Réis of face value. A host of new denominations were introduced, specifically the ‘Dobra’ of Eight Escudos which had a face value of 12,800 Réis, the proportional Peça of Four Escudos of 6,400 Réis, and proportional fractions including the Meio-Peça of 3,200 Réis, the Escudo of 1,600 Réis, the Half Escudo of 800 Réis, and finally the Quarter Escudo or Cruzadinho of 400 Réis. Each of these new pieces featured a revolutionized design which was far more aligned with the contemporary coinage of Europe – the obverse displayed an elaborate bust of King João V designed by Vieira Lusitano, and the reverse an ornate rendition of the Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Portugal – both dies beautifully engraved by the primary die engraver of the Lisbon mint at the time, the Frenchman António Mengin. A byproduct of the bold obverse portraiture as well as the king’s name “João”, saw the new Escudo series became known as the ‘Joannese series’, with many colloquially referring to the Dobra as the ‘Johanna’ and the Peça as a ‘half Johanna’, and so forth for the fractions. The Peça was set to a talhe of sixteen pieces, therefore minted to an intended weight of four oitavas or half an onça, and to the standard 22 quilates gold – metrically speaking, 14.34375 grams of 0.9167 purity. This resulted in an actual gold weight of 13.14845 grams and a ratio of 2.0544 milligrams of gold per singular Réis.
Although a Portuguese coin, the British government assigned the Peça a face value of 1 pound 16 shillings due to its frequent circulation in England, and in 1800 AD, it became the second largest value monetary denomination chosen by Philip Gidley King, the Governor of New South Wales, for the ’Australian Proclamation’, Australia’s first monetary system. In order to retain coinage within the Australian colony, each ‘Proclamation coin’ was given a high face value – the Peça was revalued to Two Pounds, 4 shillings higher then when used within England.
