Portuguese India 1881 1/4 rupia
The first specimen was lot 42220 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $240. The catalog description[1] noted, "INDIA. Portuguese India. 1/4 Rupia, 1881. Lisbon Mint. Luis I. NGC MS-62." The Portuguese were the first European power to make direct contact with India. They concentrated on trade but were not above piracy or political meddling if the opportunity arose. They conquered or dominated a good part of India in the sixteenth century but gradually had to yield to others, especially the British. By the nineteenth century, Portuguese holdings were limited to Diu, Damao and Goa. Issues up to 1952 were based on the rupee (1 rupia = 16 tanga) and struck at the British controlled mints of Bombay and Calcutta. The year 1881 saw the only complete series of silver minted, including the eighth, quarter (shown here), half and one rupia.
Recorded mintage: 471,000.
Specification: 2.92 g, 0.917 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-310.
- Alberto Gomes and Francisco Antonio Magro, Moedas Portuguesas e do Território Que Hoje é Portugal: Catálogo das Moedas Cunhadas para o Continentes e Ilhas Adjacentes, para os Territórios do Ultramar e Grão-Mestres Portugueses da Ordem de Malta, 6ª Edição, Lisbon: Associação Numismática de Portugal, 2013.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The January 2023 NYINC Auction: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Taraszka Collection and the Mark and Dottie Salton Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
Link to: