| SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Denomination | Tanga |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 16.5 mm |
| Thickness | _._ mm |
| Weight mean | 2.44 gms |
| Weight | 2.37 gms |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Smooth |
| DieAxis | _____° |
| Mint | Colombo |
The silver Tanga, with Coat of arms of Portugal and Gridiron of Saint Laurence with S L were struck in Colombo, fort São Lourenço for circulation in Ceilão, undated during the reign of D. Filippe III (1621-1640).
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| Gomes F3:14.01 ; KM #9.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Gomes F3:14.01 ; ONS.NL 152 ; KM #9.1 var | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The emblem of Saint Laurence is the gridiron with the flames below
on which he was martyr in 258 AD.
These are varieties of Codrington (VIII-22d,p.100) and are not listed
by him among undated silver coins of rough execution.
Weight range given in Gomes for this issue is 2.16-3.20 grams.
Ferraro Vaz (Indo Portuguese Money, Braga 1980) shows two examples,
one 2.39 grams and the other 2.23 grams.
For the undated Ceylon Tangas Codrington (VIII-23:p.102) gives a range
of weight from 2.08 to 2.60 grams with a mean of 2.29 grams
stating that the standard was probably as high as 2.60 grams.
Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
Chapter VIII Portuguese - Plate xxx. Page xxx
* The Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories- 1601-1948
C. Scholten, 1953, Amsterdam: Jacques Schulman. page xxx-xxx
* Moedas Portuguesas 1128-1988, by Alberto Gomes. Lisbon 1987
* Collection Henry Thomas Grogan, J. Schulman, Auction 23-02-1914.
* Non-Islamic and Western Colonies since 600 AD by by Michael Mitchiner.
I thank Jan Lingen who kindly sent me the 300 dpi scans of these rare coin from his collection and are displayed at xxx dpi.