Philip II of Portugal — Philip III of Spain — inherited the Estado da India at its most overstretched, with Goa's mint producing fractional silver largely to service the small-denomination trade that the crown's larger issues couldn't reach. The half tanga occupied a specific niche in the local bazaar economy of coastal India, where Portuguese monetary authority was constantly competing with indigenous coinage already embedded in daily commerce.
The Gomes reference places this squarely in the first systematized Philip issues out of Goa, a mint notorious for inconsistent flan preparation throughout this period.
Philip II of Portugal — Philip III of Spain — inherited the Estado da India at its most overstretched, with Goa's mint producing fractional silver largely to service the small-denomination trade that the crown's larger issues couldn't reach. The half tanga occupied a specific niche in the local bazaar economy of coastal India, where Portuguese monetary authority was constantly competing with indigenous coinage already embedded in daily commerce.
The Gomes reference places this squarely in the first systematized Philip issues out of Goa, a mint notorious for inconsistent flan preparation throughout this period.