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1 Tanga
| Issuer | Ceylon (1597-1972) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1642-1647 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | 1 mm |
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| Obverse description | Portuguese Royal Arms displayed within a crowned shield, occupying the central field of the coin. The shield bears the characteristic quartered design of the Portuguese coat of arms as used in colonial coinage of the period. The initials 'GA' appear in the field, likely referencing the Governor-General's authority under whose tenure the coin was struck. The overall style is consistent with hammered colonial Portuguese silver coinage of the mid-seventeenth century. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | GA |
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| Additional information |
The tanga was a Portuguese monetary unit transplanted to their Asian possessions, and Ceylon's issues reflect the chronic administrative disorder of Estado da India during the mid-seventeenth century — a period when Portuguese authority on the island was actively collapsing under sustained Dutch VOC military pressure. The Dutch completed their conquest of the island's coastal territories by 1658, making the window for this issue extraordinarily narrow.
KM#10 is among the final silver coinages struck under Portuguese Ceylon before the VOC assumed control and reorganized the monetary system entirely on Dutch terms.