Damão's gold coinage under José I occupied an awkward administrative moment — the Marquis of Pombal had effectively seized control of Portuguese colonial policy following the Lisbon earthquake of November 1755, the very year this piece was struck, and the reorganization of Estado da India's finances was already underway. The xerafim as a unit was a Portuguese adaptation of the local Gujarati monetary system, retained specifically because trade along the Gujarat coast demanded it.
The Gomes reference places this as the sole recorded variety for the type from Damão.
Damão's gold coinage under José I occupied an awkward administrative moment — the Marquis of Pombal had effectively seized control of Portuguese colonial policy following the Lisbon earthquake of November 1755, the very year this piece was struck, and the reorganization of Estado da India's finances was already underway. The xerafim as a unit was a Portuguese adaptation of the local Gujarati monetary system, retained specifically because trade along the Gujarat coast demanded it.
The Gomes reference places this as the sole recorded variety for the type from Damão.