Augusto Carlos Teixeira de Aragão Augusto Carlos Teixeira de Aragão • • • ( Lisbon , June 15 , 1823 - Lisbon , April 29 , 1903 ) was a Portuguese military , doctor , numismatist , archaeologist and historian . As an officer of the Portuguese Army , he retired with the rank of general . Teixeira de Aragão is considered one of the " fathers " of Portuguese numismatics . Biography . He was the son of José Maria Teixeira de Aragão and his wife , Mariana Hermógenes da Silva . He graduated in medicine , having reached the position of Surgeon - mor - in - chief of the Portuguese Army . As a surgeon in the parish of Melides in the county of Grândola , he participated with aiding the victims of the 1849 dysentery epidemic . From an early age , he devoted himself to collecting numismatics , which paired with his extraordinary intellectual activity and a friendship with the King Luis I of Portugal . This allowed him to delve in depth to this field of science . In the 1860s , he was one of the responsibles for the work of rediscovery of the archaeological site of the Roman town Balsa in Tavira . In 1867 , he acted as Conservative of the Office of the Ajuda National Palace , and was responsible for organizing , cataloging and exhibition of the contents of the collection of the Ajuda Antiquities Museum . They assembled pieces of great value belonging to the treasury of the Portuguese Royal House , the extinct convents and individuals . During the performance of these functions , Teixeira de Aragão was entrusted with the task of bringing some of the objects of the Portuguese Royal Collection at the Exposition Universelle ( 1867 ) of Paris . The Commission de l ' histoire du Travail of this exhibition attributed the gold medal to the collection . During the period of exposure , Teixeira de Aragão had the opportunity to get in touch with the world ' s most renowned personalities in the field of numismatics . In 1870 , he published " Descrição Histórica das Moedas Romanas Existentes no Gabinete Numismático de sua Majestade El - Rei O Senhor D . Luiz I " . A year later , he was admitted as a corresponding member of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute by the Commission of Archaeology and Ethnography . In 1874 , he joined the Independence Historical Society of Portugal - SHIP , having occupied the post of vice - treasurer of the Central Committee of December 1 , 1640 . In 1875 , went public with the first of three volumes of the monumental work of the " Descrição Geral e Histórica das Moedas Cunhadas em Nome dos Reis , Regentes e Governadores de Portugal " . Teixeira de Aragão came to planning a fourth volume of this work , which include the currencies of Brazil and Portuguese West Africa countries , which failed to materialize . In the same year was part of the Commission of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts , appointed by the Government of the time , with the aim to propose the reform of Education of Fine Arts , the plan for the organization of museums , and service of Historic Monuments and archeology . He reproduced the exact design of the Medal of Olhão that Olhanenses granted to the then Prince Regent D . João . On 28 December 1876 , he was elected to the section of History and Archaeology at the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon . In 1877 , participated in the archaeological conference ' s Citânia de Briteiros in Guimarães . In 1880 , he was appointed Royal Commissioner by the Academy of Sciences in order to proceed with the preparation and implementation of the program of repatriating remains of Vasco da Gama , from the Church of the Convent of Our Lady of Relics in Vidigueira to the Jeronimos Monastery where he still remain . He became a member of the commission created by the Portuguese Royal Association of Architects and Civil Archeologos ( RAACAP ) . The association ' s main objective was related to the equity issue by holding exhibitions to governments on the conservation of historical monuments . In the year 1881 , he was part of the organizing committee nominated for the exhibition Special Loan Exhibition of Spanish and Portuguese Ornamental Art displayed at the South Kensington Museum in London . He was a member of the Geographical Society of Lisbon , the " Société Française de Numismatique " and the Committee of Antiquities of the " Real Academia de la Historia de Madrid " . In Brazil , was admitted as a counselor to Historical and Geographical Institute of São Paulo .