What is a Réis

[Eus Wust]

Dear friends,

I'am reading "Dona Antónia, a life of her own". Inside is a table with bottles of port in a wine cellar belonging to António Bernardo Ferreira: 336 Garrafas de vinho do Porto 1790 with a unit price of 3$500 Réis and a value of 1:176$000 Réis. Can somebody tell me what the value is of a Réis and how to read 3$500. Is the $ the standard thousands separator in the Portuguese language?

Thanks

[Miguel Simoes]

1000 Réis = 1 Escudo
1 Euro = ~200 Escudos
And yes, $ was the standard separator for the Escudo.

Check here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_escudo

"Because of the conversion rate of 1000 réis = Escudo 1, three decimal places were initially used (1 Escudo = 1$000)."

The conversion of Réis to Escudos happened in 1911 (after the monarchy ended) but i remember my parents and grand-parents talking about Réis still... as mentioned in the Wikipedia article, it remained in colloquial use where "mil réis" would mean "um escudo" and "conto de réis" would mean "mil escudos". It was common for prices in general to be quoted in "contos", meaning "thousands of escudos".

Seems like those bottles were 3.5 Escudos, or €0.0175 each... big money back in the day!

[Eus Wust]

Hi Miguel,

Thanks a lot for your valuable response!