CEITIL: COIN OF PORTUGAL
Ceitil, 1481-1495: Kingdom of Portugal
Ruler: John II (Portuguese "João II") — King of Portugal during 1481-1495, and also in 1477. He is known for re-establishing the power of the Portugal, reinvigorating the Portuguese economy, and renewing exploration of Africa and Asia.
ND (no date). — Usually the date was not indicated on ancient coins; historians and numismatists attribute this or that coin to a certain historical period (sometimes these are time intervals, occasionally — an exact year) based on the results of studying the remains of the legend of the coin (the name of the ruler, his title) or its plot (sometimes certain historical figures were depicted on ancient coins events: capture of territories, murder or birth...).
+ IOHΛNES II R P ET Λ D G: abbreviation in Latin of the title "João II by the Grace of God, King of Portugal and the Algarves, this side and beyond the Sea in Africa, Lord of Guinea and the Conquest, Navigation and Commerce in Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India". — Duplication of the legend on the obverse and reverse of the coin.
Central part of coat of arms of Portugal from 1481 to the present: inside the shield with castles depicted 5 small shields in the form of a cross from the heraldic shield of Portugal (symbolize the five Moorish kings who were defeated by the first Portuguese king Afonso I); 5 dots on each small shield — 5 bezants (Byzantine gold coin — symbolising the right of the monarch to issue currency, as leader of a sovereign state; in the late Middle Ages coins were interpreted as the five wounds of Jesus Christ).
Three towers of the castle behind the wall on the shore of the ocean over waves.
Copper, as a metal rather unstable to external influences, a small denomination (therefore, it was actively used at the time) and small sizes made it almost impossible to find any ceitil in good condition nowadays.
The coin was minted at several mints: Ceuta (now a Spanish city in Africa) and Lisbon, Porto and Beja (Portuguese cities).
- Copper: 19 mm - 1.35 g
- Reference price: 7$
COIN CEITIL — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- KINGDOM OF PORTUGAL (1448-1582): ceitil = 1/6 real branco
About the name of the coin ceitil: according to one of the versions, the name of the coin is connected with the city of Ceuta (at that time — a Portuguese city in Africa; now — a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa). It was there that the coin appeared for the first time.
