São Tomé de 5 Xerafins - Filipe I Goa mint

Filipe I of Portugal — Felipe II of Spain — inherited the Portuguese crown in 1580 following the dynastic crisis triggered by Dom Sebastião's death at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir two years earlier. The Goa mint, already well-established as the primary source of Portuguese Indian coinage, continued striking under the new Iberian Union without meaningful interruption. The xerafim denomination itself was a Portuguese adaptation of the local monetary system, designed to function alongside indigenous currencies already circulating on the Malabar and Konkan coasts.

The eighteen-year reign window for this type reflects the difficulty of attributing undated Goa gold to specific years within Filipe I's rule.