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| Índia Portuguesa Rupia |
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| Portuguese Indian coin - silver Rupee |
Obverse: Head of Luis I of Portugal left. Date (1881) below.
Legend: LUDOVICUS . I . PORTUG : ET . ALGARB : REX . 1881 .
Reverse: Crowned Portuguese shield above wreath.
Legend. INDIA PORTUGUEZA . UMA RUPIA .
Reference: KM-312.
Denomination: Uma Rupia (1 Rupee)
Weight: 11.62 gram of Silver (.917)
Diameter: 30 mm
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Coins of Portuguese India
Many coins collectors know about the Portuguese city of Macao, located on the south coast of China, and of the rather extensive series of coins that have been issued for it. But fewer of us know much about what is collectively called Portuguese India.
It took Great Britain lifetimes to pull most of modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka into its empire. As all that was going on, Portugal managed to keep three small footholds right on the western shores of India proper. This actually reflects something of a very long-term turn of events. You see, in the late 1400s and early 1500s, the Portuguese crown had put quite the effort into logically and systematically getting ships around Africa to India to open a trade route by sea. But the British had been building ships of their own, and with them won the long-haul battle for the land and the wealth of India.
So, while the coins of British India are really pretty easy to collect, and sport a lot of history, they eclipse the Portuguese Indian coins of Damao, Diu and Goa.
The easiest way to dig into the coins of Portuguese India is to start at 1959. Yes, hard though it may be to believe of colonial cities that started in the days of wooden sailing ships, these three cities were still Portuguese in the late 1950s. In a system where 100 centavos were equal to one escudo, there are plenty of denominations, as well as relatively large mintages, from which to choose. The little 10-centavos pieces are even something that can still be found in dealer bargain bins. All are bronze or a copper-nickel alloy, which means they are rather inexpensive today. Even the large 6-escudo pieces don’t cost an arm and a leg. About the only thing a collector will really need in abundance is patience. None of these appear too often, even at large shows.
Stepping back a bit, to the decades from the late 1800s until the early 1950s, Portuguese Indian coins were made in a series that spans from the tiny copper 3 reis coins up to the big, silver uma pieces, also called rupia. Unlike their more modern counterparts, this series has one of those wonderfully non-decimal systems: 1 rupia was equal to 960 reis. It was also equal to 16 tanga. That means 60 reis were also equal to one tanga. Add to all this coins titled “oitavo” (1/8th of a tanga), “oitavo de rupia” (1/8th of a rupia, or 120 reis), and “meia rupia” (half of a rupia), and you get, well, a monetary system that may appear to us as complex as a Rubik’s Cube. But who knows, in a century or so, folks might wonder just what the terms “nickel,” and “dime,” and “quarter” all meant in the United States series.
One great aspect of collecting the coins of Portuguese India for this particular time frame is that the rupias and half rupias were silver. These coins were certainly not issued each year, but from 1881 until the issues of 1935 and 1936, they were still real silver coins. And because so few folks collect them now, they are often priced not too much higher than the price of silver metal on the market.
Collecting these late 19th and early 20th century coins of Portuguese India is not a particularly tough endeavor today. Once again, prices aren’t too high simply because the collector base isn’t too broad. Once more, it’s patience that you’ll need for this hunt.