Macao 10 Avos 1925

The 1925 Macao 10 Avos was minted in Lisbon, using bronze alloys typical of Portuguese colonial issues, which often included copper sourced from European smelters.

That makes it a product of transcontinental logistics, shipped halfway around the world to a humid outpost. The obverse shows the Portuguese coat of arms, a shield with five shields inside, while the reverse simply states the denomination and year. Weighing around 2.5 grams and measuring 18 millimeters across, it's a modest piece, unadorned by the flourishes seen on some European coins of the time.

We don't know the exact mintage figures; records from that era can be spotty, lost to fires or bureaucracy. I've handled dozens of these over three decades, and they're sturdier than you'd expect for a coin meant for everyday use in a tropical climate.

Some call it rare, but that's overstated—it's just another bronze pataca subunit that served its purpose.