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Auction: CSS32 - The Numismatic Collectors' Series incl. The Nicholas Rhodes Collection of Tibetan Coins, Tibetan and Nepalese Banknotes
Lot: 76

Tibetan Government, Anonymous (1953/54), Second issue Monk Tangka, 3.90g, undated (YZM 514-515; KM. Y#31), PCGS AU58


Formerly it was assumed that the Tangkas were distributed to monks on behalf of the 14th Dalai Lama in the late 1940s. The Chinese work by Zhu Jin Zhong et. al., published in 2002 includes illustrations of several pairs of dies and master dies for this type of Tangka. Some dies are inscribed with a Tibetan date on the shaft (Zhu Jinzhong (chief editor), Wang Haiyan, Wang Jiafeng, Zhang Wuyi, Wu Hanlin, Wang Dui [dbang ´dus] and Tsering Pincuo: Zhong guo xi zang qian bi [The Money of Chinese Tibet] Xi zang zi zhi ou qian bi xue hui [Tibet Autonomous Region Numismatic Society], Zhong hua shu ju, Beijing 2002, pp. 225-231).

A coin die for this type is offered in this auction, lot 1124.
The Tibetans referred to this Tangka as Tangka dkarpo sarpa ("new white Tangka") in order to distinguish it from the normal Gaden Tangkas. This coin circulated for some time at the value of 5-Srang which shows the high inflation rate which was prevailing in Tibet in the 20th Century. In the 19th Century 6 2/3 Tangkas were equivalent to 1-Srang which corresponded to slightly more than 37 grams of silver. Taking the circulating value of this Monk Tangka as a base, 1-Srang was equal to about 33 1/3 Tangkas in 1953/54.



1953-54年西藏第二版和尚唐卡，PCGS AU58

Estimate
HK$500 to HK$700