2 Tangas Counterstamped

Portuguese India produced the original tanga as a colonial trade coin, and Ceylon's administration — then under the Dutch East India Company following their ousting of the Portuguese — counterstamped circulating Portuguese silver to legitimize it under new authority. The VOC took Galle in 1640 and Colombo in 1656, and these counterstamped pieces fall precisely within the chaotic transitional years when Portuguese monetary infrastructure was being absorbed rather than replaced.

The narrow 1640–1642 window reflects how quickly the VOC moved to assert fiscal control before establishing its own mint output for the island.