Catalog
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| Issuer | Portuguese India |
|---|---|
| Year | 1521-1557 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pardau (1509-1580) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | G - A |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The patacão was Portugal's attempt to produce a large silver coin competitive with the heavy Islamic and Hindu issues already circulating on the Malabar Coast. João III inherited Goa from his father Manuel I in 1521 along with the apparatus of Estado da India — the trading-post empire that depended on hard silver to purchase pepper, textiles, and saltpeter from merchants who had little interest in Portuguese credit. The Goa mint operated under chronic metal supply pressures, relying largely on bullion seized from Arab traders or extracted through forced exchange at disadvantageous rates.
Striking consistency across this type is poor, a known characteristic of the Goa facility rather than individual piece variation.