973

CHITTAGONG: Joao III, 1521-1557, AR tanka (9.96g)

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - World Start Price:620.00 USD Estimated At:800.00 - 1,000.00 USD
CHITTAGONG: Joao III, 1521-1557, AR tanka (9.96g)
SOLD
2,000.00USD+ (390.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2014 May 16 @ 09:47UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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CHITTAGONG: João III, 1521-1557, AR tanka (9.96g), Unpublished, in the name of João III (John III), IOHANES : III : R : P, Portguese arms in the center, with a small crescent left & right / IO(H)…ES III R P ET AL, crowned V C monogram in center, M left and A right, imitating the coinage of the Portuguese colony of Malacca in the Malay Peninsula, 1 banker's mark, VF, RRRR. In 1533, Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud, the sultan of Bengal, allowed the Portuguese to establish a colony and custom house at Chittagong. Although Portuguese political control was quickly abandoned, it remained an important Portuguese trade center for more than a century, and was known to the Portuguese as Porto Grande. The fabric and planchet appearance is typical of the coinage of Chittagong and its environs, and might have been struck at Chittagong by the Portuguese during their period of at least partial control over the city circa 1533-1539, or by any one of the other local authorities within the surrounding regions. The accuracy of the Latin inscriptions suggests that the dies must have been produced by a European engraver, almost certainly Portuguese. This piece is said to have been found together with a group of Bengali and Tripura silver tankas, probably not too far from Chittagong itself. We have been unable to find any published reference to this remarkable coin.