THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

CONTINENT OF EUROPE
amples of workmanship and design in all metals. One
conspicuous characteristic, which should not surprise us
in such a stronghold of the Papacy and its adjuncts, is
the presence on the coins of all kinds of religious symbols
and suggestions, bespeaking the staunch and fervid Catho-
licism of the people, which has outlived everything else
except its natural associates, sloth, poverty, and crime.
The colonial series in this case is of exceptional extent
and importance, and dates from the reign of Emmanuel.
Very full information on these points is afforded in the
Portuguese monographs by Fernandes and Aragao.
A very striking peculiarity in the monetary system
of Portugal is the almost complete absence, as in
Scotland, of the seigniorial and ecclesiastical ele-
ments, as the sole instance of a concession from the
Crown to any person or corporation appears to be
that accorded in 1128 by Affonso I. to the cathedral of
Bracara, of which there exists a possible result or out-
come in a coin reading Civitas Bragce ; and even this
piece is of doubtful origin. A slight feature of English
interest consists in the employment of the celebrated
engraver Wyon by Maria II. da Gloria for the coroa of
1837 (perhaps the prototype of the Victorian coinage
of 1837-39), and of the Birmingham mint about the
same time (1820-30) for two pattern 10-reis elsewhere
described. The heavy Portuguese copper may have
been borrowed from England, from the two Sicilies, or
from Russia; it lasted from about 1812 to 1830, and
the scarcest piece is a pattern 40-reis of Dom Miguel,
1828, with his portrait.
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