| SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Denomination | Tanga |
| Alloy | Silver |
| Type | Struck |
| Diameter | 15.5 mm |
| Thickness | _._ mm |
| Weight legal | 2.19 gms |
| Weight | 2.24 gms |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Smooth |
| DieAxis | _____° |
| Mint | Colombo |
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| Codrington PL 106 ; Gomes F3:16.01 ; KM #9.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
* 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.