Catalog
1 Tanga
| Issuer | Portuguese Ceylon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1598-1621 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | The Portuguese royal coat of arms rendered in crude hammered style, centrally placed within a dotted or beaded border. The shield displays the characteristic quinas (five escutcheons) of the Portuguese royal arms, with a crown surmounting the device. The design is characteristic of hammered colonial coinage produced for Portuguese Ceylon during the early seventeenth century. |
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| Mintage | ND (1598-1621) |
| Additional information |
Portuguese Ceylon operated under a series of captains-general based in Colombo, and coinage was struck locally rather than shipped from Lisbon — a practical necessity given the distances involved and the need for small-denomination exchange in the spice and textile trades along the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. The tanga was a unit inherited from earlier Indian monetary practice, not a Portuguese invention, which is why the denomination survived successive colonial administrations with relatively little disruption.
The 23-year span of this type crosses the reigns of Philip I and Philip II of Portugal — both actually Habsburg kings of Spain ruling under the Iberian Union, a dynastic arrangement that lasted from 1580 to 1640.