Spanish cruzado help

[Blind.In.Texas]

I read in some old text where the author mentioned the use of cruzados. The ONLY reference I can find is the now extinct Bolivian cruzado. The cruzado information I need refers to coins in use in the 1500s. Thanks in advance. A picture of the type would be great if anyone has it.

 

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[Mackaydon]

Here you go, a 10 cruzados coin from the era 1521 to 1557:
http://www.coinarchives.com/919d65372326194a133f88056eb2cea7/img/hessdivo/318/image01335.jpg
Don.....

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

Thanks, Don. San Diego is a nice city. Been there many times. Harry's had a great sushi menu

I am trying to gain perspective of the coin's face value in its day, for those who may know. The reference to the coins was that a particular person had thirteen thousand of them. Anyone have any ideas about how to understand these quantities in "today's money". Given what I am working on, I think it would be helpful to understand just how much money that person had in comparison to other folks of his day.

TIA

 

[Mackaydon]

The cruzado came in gold and silver. The 'basis' cruzado (in silver) weighed 22.9 grams. If you assume the coin contained 90% silver, you can compute today's intrinsic (melt) value.
Don.....

 

[Salvor6]

From what I understand the cruzado is not a Spanish coin but a Portugese gold coin. The Spanish gold coins were called escudos. I never heard of a silver cruzado.
The old Portugese cruzados are very rare because during the War of Spanish Succession, the Spaniards invaded Portugal and melted down all the gold cruzados and made them into escudos.

 

[Mackaydon]

The gold cruzado I referenced above (yes, from Portugal) sold for nearly $70k; expensive, in deed.
Prior to 1835, the silver pieces of Portugal included the cruzado (400 reis), the testoon (100 reis) and other denominations. Originally, they were minted in 917/1000 fine silver; later reduced to 899/1000 fine silver.

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

From what I understand the cruzado is not a Spanish coin but a Portugese gold coin.

Now that makes sense. The author of the text was Portuguese but, he wrote of Spanish business and activities. Knowing that it was Portguese currency really helped. The author probably knew the general amount of Spanish currency possessed by the men and gave a figurative number based upon the cruzado. Thanks guys.

http://www.moedanumismatica.com/coins/portugal.html
Portuguese cruzado

The Cruzado was a gold coin issued by Afonso V (1438-1481) trying to organize a crusade against the the fall of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. It had a value of 400 reis. The name comes from Portuguese cruzado which means cross, referring to the cross of the patron saint of Portugal, St George, on the reverse.

King João II (1477-1495) introduced a new silver coin called cruzado at a value of 324 real branco. João III (1521-1557) fixed its value to 400 réis and Pedro II (1683-1706) increased its value to 480 réis. The cruzado was also minted by João IV (1640-1656) with value equal to 750 réis.