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1 Soldo - Sebastião I Arrows
| Issuer | Portuguese Malacca |
|---|---|
| Year | 1558-1578 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Two crossed arrows in saltire arrangement at center, oriented diagonally across the field. A large raised dot appears in each of the four quadrants formed by the crossing arrows, creating a symmetrical composition. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, consistent with cast tin-lead coinage of Portuguese colonial Malacca. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Malacca had been a Portuguese possession since Afonso de Albuquerque's seizure of the city in 1511, and by Sebastião I's reign the settlement had become a critical node in the eastern spice trade — though an increasingly contested one, harassed by Aceh to the north and under constant pressure from the Johor Sultanate. The calin alloy used here was a local material, a tin-lead mixture drawn from the Malay Peninsula's abundant tin deposits rather than anything shipped from Lisbon.
Sebastião himself never set foot anywhere near Malacca. He died at Alcácer Quibir in 1578, the same year this type ceases — his army annihilated in the Moroccan desert.