1631 - Portuguese Ceilão
Silver - Tanga -S L

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination Tanga Alloy Silver Type Struck Diameter 17.0 mm Thickness 1.4 mm Weight legal 2.44 gms Weight 2.34 gms Shape Round Edge Smooth DieAxis -30° Mint Colombo
	Codrington PL 114 ; Gomes F3:13.01 ; F.Vas 3.37 KM #9.1

Obverse : Crowned Coat of arms of Portugal between 3 to left and i to right ([16]3i) within a circle of dots inside a plain line circle
Reverse : Gridiron of Saint Laurence divides S L (São Lourenço) and flames below within two dotted circles separated by a plain line circle. On line circle 4 dots crosswise on top-right-bottom-left.

The Portuguese used to write i for 1, indicating year [16]31, which makes it the first coin with a date issued specifically for Lanka, and succeeded the undated gridiron issues.

The Portuguese fort at Colombo was the Fortress of São Lourenço.
An account of the martyrdom Saint Laurence in 258 AD of being roasted alive on a gridiron has made his emblem in art a gridiron with the flames below the grill.
In Krause the flames are incorrectly described as a Crown.

Codrington (VIII-22:d,p.100) lists it among silver coins of rough execution with crowned Coat of arms and the Gridiron. In (VIII-23,p.102) he assigns it to Captain General Constantino De Sa.

See also the coin in the collection of Jan Lingen.

Text from
* Ceylon Coins and Currency By H. W. Codrington. Colombo 1924
  Chapter VIII Portuguese - Plate V. Page 100
* Indo Portuguese Money, by J Ferraro Vaz, . Braga, Portugal 1980 p.130
* Moedas Portuguesas 1128-1988, by Alberto Gomes. Lisbon 1987 p.149
* Collection Henry Thomas Grogan, J. Schulman, Auction 23-02-1914.
* Non-Islamic and Western Colonies since 600 AD by by Michael Mitchiner.

The F/VF grade coin was scanned at 600 dpi and images are displayed at 400 dpi. It is from part of Lalith Raddella's collection I purchased in 2016 December.