Historical money of Tibet
From 1955 to 1959 no more Tibetan coins were created, although banknotes were still being printed, and by 1959 all of the money was gradually being replaced with renminbi yuan (the official currency of the People's Republic of China).
Other, less important export goods were yak tails, musk and live animals (goats and sheep).
[1] For large transactions within Tibet, gold dust (probably tied up in small leather bags) and Chinese silver ingots were used.
These ingots came in different shapes; the most common kind resembled horseshoes or donkey shoes, and were named "rta rmig ma" in Tibetan.
Fifteen Sertam corresponded to one standard Changsho (Chagsho Tshema; Tibetan: byang zho tshad ma).
The currency unit Gursho (Tibetan: mgur-zho) was already mentioned by Sarat Chandra Das in his Tibetan-English Dictionary.
[7] British-Indian authors occasionally refer to the silver bars found in Tibet, some of which were imported from Kashgar, as "yambus", an expression which derives from Chinese yuanbao.
The first coinage which was extensively used in southern Tibet was silver coins, which were supplied by the Nepalese Malla Kingdoms and the first kings of the subsequent Shah dynasty from about 1640 until 1791.
[13] The Chinese took this opportunity to tighten their grip on Tibet, and issued an edict which among other dispositions stipulated the introduction of a new silver coinage, struck in the name of the Qianlong Emperor.
These tangkas which first were produced in the Kongpo province and later in Lhasa, were the first mass-produced silver coins of Tibet and had about the same weight as their Nepalese counterparts, i.e. about 5.2 grams.
But this plan was abandoned because it was found to be too expensive to transport copper from China to Tibet in order to cast cash coinage in Lhasa.
By the time the news of his abdication reached Lhasa, some silver coins of the 61st year had already been struck and released for circulation.
[16] From 1918 until early 1921, gold coins of the denomination "20 srang" were struck in the Serkhang mint which was located near Norbulingka, the summer residence of the Dalai Lamas.
These gold coins did not circulate very much in Tibet and were mainly used for storing wealth, or they were exported to India where a good profit could be obtained.
From 1840 until 1932 Tibet's coins were struck by hand, and later with water-powered or man-powered locally-made machines, in different mints located in or near Lhasa.
Most of them were traded by weight, such as Mexican and Spanish American silver dollars, Russian roubles and German marks.
The exception were British Indian rupees, particularly the ones with the portrait of Queen Victoria, which widely circulated in Tibet and were mostly preferred to Tibetan coins.
The Chinese rupees were struck in Chengdu and, starting in the 1930s also in Kangding, the former Tibeto-Chinese border town in western Sichuan.
Since they often ended up as buttons or as parts of silver jewellery, their production was soon discontinued, and, when small change was needed, the whole rupees were cut in half or were quartered with the help of a sword and a hammer.
They bear the following inscription on the obverse:[20][21] The highest denomination note (50 tam) was often forged, and the Tibetan government decided to introduce a new multicoloured version printed in a more sophisticated manner.
All the Tibetan srang-denominated banknotes were machine-printed on locally made paper at the government mint of Trabshi Lekhung using inks imported from India.
An establishment located south of the Kyichu (river) near Lhasa, known as Tip Arsenal, is occasionally mentioned as mint",[22] but there is no evidence that coins were struck there.
A small factory destined for the production of copper blanks existed in the Chumbi valley about halfway between Yatung and the Tibeto-Sikkimese border; its name was Norbu Tsoki (Tibetan: nor bu mthso dkyil) and it was operational between 1923 and 1928.
From the 1920s coins were struck by machines imported from England and from British India, first on an experimental basis in 1928 and 1929, and then on a large scale from 1932 to 1938, and again from 1946 to 1954.
[22] After the Battle of Chamdo in 1950-51 the renewed interference of the Chinese resulted in a situation where no more coins were struck from 1955 and 1959[citation needed].
Many Yuan Shikai dollars were smuggled to India by Tibetan traders who bought western goods in Calcutta which they sold at considerable profits to Chinese Army members in Lhasa.
According to Tibetan tradition, the Kalachakra (dus kyi ‘khor lo) was introduced into Tibet from India in the year 1026.
Therefore the dates found on Tibetan coins record the number of years which have elapsed since this historical event.
One was imported from Nepal and its basic unit was the "tangka" (also called "trangka" "tam" or "tamga"; equivalent to about 5.4 to 5.6 grams of alloyed silver).
The other was imported from China and its basic unit was the "srang" (Chinese liang, equivalent to 37.3 grams of silver).
