Moidore || onto another coin.

A moidore is a Portuguese gold coin, minted from 1640 to 1732. The moidore was current in western Europe and the West Indies, particularly Barbados, for a long period after it ceased to be struck. It was the principal coin current in Ireland at the beginning of the 18th century, and spread to the west of England.

The name moidore is derived from Portuguese moeda de ouro, which literally meant “golden coin”.

There is reference to the moidore in the John Masefield poem ‘Cargoes’ - ‘Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus - Dipping through the tropics by the palm green shores, With a cargo of diamonds, emeralds, amythysts, topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.’


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