Tostão de D. Sebastião

The Tostão of King Sebastião features a portrait of the monarch as a mere teenager, struck during a reign that ended abruptly when he was just 24.

That image, often showing him in armor, hints at the military ambitions that defined his rule, though the coins themselves served as humble currency for merchants and soldiers alike. They were minted in Lisbon from silver sourced locally, a practical choice in an era of expanding trade. Records from that period are spotty; we know production ramped up in the 1570s, but exact figures burned with the royal archives in 1838.

As for the design, it's straightforward: a cross on the reverse, the king's name around the edge. No grand legends here, just solid silver that circulated from Portugal to its colonies. Some say these coins carried a curse after Sebastião's disappearance, but that's the sort of myth I've grown weary of debunking.