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August 21, 2013 - HONG KONG295295 Tibetan Government, Anonymous (1953/54), Second issue Monk Tangka, 4.28g,undated (YZM 514-515; KM. Y#31), extremely fineFormerly it was assumed that the Tangkas were distributed to monks on behalf of the14th Dalai Lama in the late 1940s. The Chinese work by Zhu Jin Zhong et. al., publishedin 2002 includes illustrations of several pairs of dies and master dies for this type ofTangka. Some dies are inscribed with a Tibetan date on the shaft (Zhu Jinzhong (chiefeditor), 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 zhiou qian bi xue hui [Tibet Autonomous Region Numismatic Society], Zhong hua shu ju,Beijing 2002, pp. 225-231).The Tibetans referred to this Tangka as Tangka dkarpo sarpa (“new white Tangka”) inorder to distinguish it from the normal Gaden Tangkas. This coin circulated for sometime at the value of 5-Srang which shows the high inflation rate which was prevailing inTibet in the 20th Century. In the 19th Century 6⅔ Tangkas were equivalent to 1-Srangwhich corresponded to slightly more than 37 grams of silver. Taking the circulating valueof this Monk Tangka as a base, 1-Srang was equal to about 33⅓ Tangkas in 1953/54.HK$300-400(US$40-50)296296 Tibetan Government, Anonymous (1912), Machine struck Gaden Tangka, 5.71g,undated (YZM 514-515; KM. Y#F 13.3), in PCGS holder, graded AU58, very rareAcquired through exchange from Wolfgang Bertsch.This coin is struck from the same or similar dies as the double Tangka KM Y#15. A smallgroup of these Tangkas were purchased by the cataloguer in Kathmandu in about 1983;thereafter this coin type was never available again. The machine struck Tangka of this typein the Halpert sale (lot 117), in the Gabrisch sale (lot 166), the one formerly in theValdettaro collection (now in the British Museum, accession number: 1989,0904.274),and this coin were all part of this small group.The only other specimen which we are aware of is in the collection of the AmericanNumismatic Society and was donated by Charles Panish (accession no. 1973.217.36).HK$4,000-5,000(US$500-600)69