Portuguese India 1884 1/8 tanga
This specimen is from a three year type struck for the Portuguese colonies in India. Once extensive, Portuguese dominions had dwindled by the 1800's to the enclaves of Goa, Diu and Damao. Issues up to 1952 were based on the rupee (one 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, half and one rupia. Copper issues included an eighth (shown here), quarter, half and one tanga. The mintage figure given below, taken from the SCWC, is probably intended to be 12,397,000. The second specimen was lot 42224 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $288. The catalog description[1] noted, "INDIA. Portuguese India. 1/8 Tanga, 1884. Calcutta Mint. Luis I. NGC MS-64 Brown."
Recorded mintage: 12,397 for 1881-86, possibly a misprint for 12,397,000.
Specification: copper.
Catalog reference: KM 307; Gomes-09.01.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- 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.
- [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.
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