The xerafim was a unit of account deeply embedded in Goa's Indo-Portuguese economy, but gold issues of this denomination were struck only intermittently, making any early eighteenth-century survivor genuinely scarce. Pedro II's reign ended with his death in December 1706, and the Goa mint — operating under chronic supply pressures from disrupted trade routes and ongoing conflict with the Marathas — produced gold in quantities far below its silver output during these years.
The xerafim was a unit of account deeply embedded in Goa's Indo-Portuguese economy, but gold issues of this denomination were struck only intermittently, making any early eighteenth-century survivor genuinely scarce. Pedro II's reign ended with his death in December 1706, and the Goa mint — operating under chronic supply pressures from disrupted trade routes and ongoing conflict with the Marathas — produced gold in quantities far below its silver output during these years.