When scanning my Portuguese India coins this particular coin stood out like a sore thumb. It is the only one i've ever come across in ten years of actively looking that is in medal rotation. All the others i've ever come across are in coin rotation. What I don't know is if this particular type was deliberately struck in medal rotation, whether the rotation was haphazard (could be either coin or medal rotation), or whether this one just happens to be an error. The two and four tangas of the same design are both in coin rotation, so I suspect that this one could be an error. Problem is, that I come across these so infrequently that i'd probably wait another ten years before seeing another. Any relevant info would be most welcome
Ian,what does Krause say about the coinage & medal alignment of these coins from Portuguese India? Aidan.
Very interesting observation, Ian. I checked the coins in my collection and found 3 specimens, each one of this is in medal alignment. All other Indo-Portuguese coins I have are in coin alignment. I checked couple of reference books and there is nothing mentioned regarding orientation of this coin. So, I guess this coin was minted in medal orientation and was not an error. Regards, Ballabh Garg
Apparently so. A collector from portugal has advised me that this particular coin is the only `modern' Portuguese (India) coin to have been minted in medal alignment. I've asked if he can cite any reference source for us so i'll let you know when he gets back to me.
I've been quoted two books. The first being JF Vaz's `Dinheiro Luso-Indiano' (1980) which is a massive 606 pages. The cheapest i've been able to source it at is €103. Perhaps if i were still actively interested in Portuguese India....but right now it is a non starter. The second book was Gomes' `Moedas Portuguesas 1128 -1988', which apparentrly has 70 or so pages specifically on Portuguese India. Again this is a massive text book (700+ pages) and rather expensive. So unless I come across someone who actually has one or other of these texts I will just have to settle for a simple `looks like they were all made in medal rotation'. I think I can live with that.
