The indio was a

silver coin Silver coins are considered the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 ...

minted by the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

government as a

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

to support trade with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. There are only two recovered coins of this mintage, making it very rare.

History

Following the

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

, King

Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, a ...

ordered the indio, as well as the português, to be minted to support trade with India. The indio was minted for less than five years, being discontinued prior to 1504 in favor of the

tostão Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade (born 25 January 1947), generally known as Tostão, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward or attacking midfielder. Tostão was an intelligent, hardworking and prolific left-footed f ...

Design

According to

Damião de Góis Damião de Góis (; February 2, 1502January 30, 1574), born in Alenquer, Portugal, was an important Portuguese humanist philosopher. He was a friend and student of Erasmus. He was appointed secretary to the Portuguese factory in Antwerp in 1523 ...

, the weight of the coin was ordered to equal the mass of the coins used by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, 3 grams. The reverse side bears markings from the

Military Order of Christ The Military Order of Christ is the former order of Knights Templar as it was reconstituted in Portugal. Before 1910 it was known as the Royal Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was ...

, which King Manuel had also adopted as his personal insignia.

Examples

There are only two recovered coins of this type.

Coin 1

The first coin has been held in the National Historical Museum of Brazil, which houses the largest numismatic collection of Latin America.

Coin 2

The second coin was recovered from the excavation of the Esmeralda. This recovery of this example, forged in 1499, was announced in 2016 following excavation of the 1503 shipwreck off the coast of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

, on Al-Hallaniyah island in the Khuriya Muriya island chain. This example was compared to the first using CT scan and authenticated by João Pedro Vieira, Curator of Coins and Paper Money with the Bank of Portugal.

External links

*
Youtube video
of recovery and CT scan

References

{{reflist Silver coins