Abstract
A portable X-ray fluorescence system (pXRF) was employed to analyse a set of gold, silver and billon coins from the collection of the Museu Histórico Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (MHN), struck during the Brasil Colônia period, under the Dutch occupation, and in Portuguese mints under the reigns of Fernando I (1367 to 1383) and his successor João I (1383 to 1433). The experimental setup consisted of a mini Si-PIN detector and a radioactive source of 238Pu for the excitation of the samples. The aim of the study was to test the possibilities and limitations of this portable system for the determination of the coins’ base alloys, and to verify whether the results obtained were consistent with historical facts. The Brasil Colônia period coins show about 80.5% gold and 96.8% silver. For the Portuguese coins, we could identify a possible monetary debasement during the reign of João I. No matrix corrections were made for these preliminary results.
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