1640 - Portuguese Ceilão
Silver - Tanga - C Lº

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination Tanga Alloy Silver Type Struck Diameter 15.9 mm Thickness 1.5 mm Weight legal 2.19 gms Weight 2.31 gms Shape Round Edge Smooth DieAxis -20° Mint Colombo
	Codrington PL 106 ; Gomes F3:16.01 ; F.Vas F3.39; KM #9.2

Obverse : Crowned Coat of arms of Portugal divides C Lº (Ceilão) within a circle of dots between two plain line circles.
Reverse : Gridiron of Saint Laurence divides year I6 40 and flames below within a circle of dots between two plain line circles.

Gomes gives a weight range of 2.16-3.2 grams for this series.
The mint mark C Lº is attributed by Codrington to Ceilão or Colombo. The Portuguese fort at Colombo was the Fortress of São Lourenço. The emblem of Saint Laurence is the gridiron with the flames below on which he was martyr in 258 AD.
In Krause the flames are described as a Crown.

Codrington (VIII-21:I,p.99) lists it among silver coins struck in or for Ceylon as the first series struck in 1640 of the Gridiron type. He says The workmanship resembles that of the Goa mint, and these coins very probably may have been struck there for the use in the island or possibly locally with dies sent from the capital.

In Grogan section on Ceylon the Tanga is illustrated with
(1318) -- 17 mm and 2.60 grams
(1319) -- 16.5/16 mm. 2.39 grams

Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Chapter VIII Portuguese - Plate xxx. Page xxx
* Indo Portuguese Money, by J Ferraro Vaz, . Braga, Portugal 1980 p.149
* 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.

The XF coin was scaned at 600 dpi and images are displayed at 400 dpi. It is from part of Lalith Raddella's collection I purchased in 2016 December.