Extremely Rare António I Azores Tostão

Triton XVII, Lot: 1393. Estimate $5000. Sold for $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PORTUGAL, Kingdom. António I o Prior do Crato (the Prior of Crato). 1580. AR Tostão (28mm, 4.87 g, 5h). Angra do Heroísmo mint. Struck 1582. ANTONIVS • I • D [•] G [•] REX • POR • ET • AL, crowned coat-of-arms; A to left; to right, falgon left with trailing ties / (flower) IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, large cross pattée; c/m incuse falcon left. Gomes 08.01 (example without c/m); cf. Vaz An.15-16 (for type). Good VF, toned. Well struck countermark. Extremely rare.

The countermark on this tostão is a falcon – açor in Portuguese – which became a badge of the Azores. Initially, the falcon was the mintmark of the Angra do Heroísmo mint. Later, it was used as a countermark to indicate that Portuguese coinage struck outside of the Azores was valid for circulation there.

In 1580, Henrique I died without naming a successor. A struggle followed in which three contestants vied for the throne: Catarina, infanta de Portugal, duquesa de Bragança; Felippe II of Spain; and António I o Prior do Crato. Using the hatred of the Spanish, Antonio was chosen and proclaimed king by popular acclamationin July 1580. His reign, however, lasted only twenty days. Defeated by the Spanish at the Battle of Alcântara, he fled to the Azores, from where he attempted to rule Portugal as an opposition government unrecognized everywhere but in the Azores. Eventually, Antonio made his way to France and England, where it was hoped that his return to Portugal would spark uprisings there against Felippe II. Unsuccessful, António ended his days in France on a small pension.