500 Reis of Luís I

The 500 Reis of Luís I was struck from gold sourced primarily from Brazil's vast mines, fueling Portugal's imperial coffers during the 19th-century reforms.

That gold helped standardize the currency under the Latin Monetary Union, aligning Portugal with European norms. The obverse showed Luís I's stern profile, a shift to more lifelike portraits that cut through the era's artistic fluff. On the reverse, the Portuguese coat of arms stood out, simple and unadorned.

Exact mintage numbers? Spotty at best. Records from some years vanished in the Lisbon archives fire of 1887, leaving us to guess. Still, these coins circulated widely in trade, from Lisbon to the colonies.

Not every piece survived; many ended up as jewelry or melted down. As for the so-called "cursed gold" tales, they’re nonsense—I’ve handled enough to know it's just metal.