ABSTRACT Between 1724 and 1735, the Mint House of Vila Rica produced more coins than its congener in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, even if both were taken together. As a matter of fact, these data allows us to raise issues about the monetary offer in both sides of the Atlantic. This article presents, besides the current accounts and routines of coinage, evidences demonstrating the volume of net remittances made by the Casas de Moeda e Fundição of Vila Rica, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia to the metropolis. It argues the monetization of Brazilian economy in the period and points out to the need for an urgent revision of the widely adopted approach in the field of the monetary circulation in the colony.
Mint of Vila Rica; coinage; monetization