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THE NICHOLAS RHODES COLLECTION - COINS OF TIBETNicholas Rhodes and his Collection of Tibetan CoinsLike most serious collectors, Nicholas started acquiring and studying coins at an early age. His lifelong passion for the coinsof the Himalayas was ignited during an overland trip to and an extensive stay in Nepal in the 1960s, where he found thatKathmandu was one of the most fascinating places for a coin collector. Nicholas was fortunate to start collecting Tibetan andNepalese coins at a time when unpublished coins or banknotes could still be found and the prices of even very rare pieceswere affordable. He was therefore able to relatively quickly build a fine collection which formed the basis for studies whichhe started publishing in the 1970s.Nicholas was always interested in studying the historical context of the coins which he acquired. Guided by this interest andencouraged by his friend and fellow collector Carlo Valdettaro, with whom he corresponded and was in close contact from1965 until Valdettaro’s death in 1988, Nicholas published articles in the field of Tibetan numismatics at a time when thisdiscipline was still in its infancy. In this context one may mention the following important publications which have stood thetest of time: “The Gaden Tangkas of Tibet”, “Tibetan Mints” and “The Development of Currency in Tibet”.Subsequently Nicholas started collecting the coins of other Himalayan states and regions, forming outstanding coincollections of Kashmir, Ladakh, Bhutan, Assam, Cooch Bihar, Tripura, Jaintiapur, Kachar and Manipur as well as variousformer Indian hill states. He published many pioneering articles and several important books on these areas and thus gainedthe reputation of being the world’s leading expert in the coinage of the Himalayas.While in the beginning of his collecting activities Nicholas could rely primarily on coin and curio dealers from Nepal andIndia, in later years he was able to enrich his collection of Tibetan coins by acquiring rare pieces in coin auctions, notably inthose auctions which included the most outstanding collections to have come to the market to date, namely those of theAmerican dentist and collector Wesley Halpert (1922-2010) (New York 2000 <strong>Spink</strong>) and the German veterinarian andcollector Karl Gabrisch (1926-1995) (Hong Kong, 2005; Baldwin, Ma Tak Wo, Gillio, Monetarium). Nicholas had writtenthe catalogue of both collections.Nicholas Rhodes was member of numerous numismatic and other societies. From 1977 until 2002 he was HonoraryTreasurer of the Royal Numismatic Society (U.K.) and acted as Secretary General of the Oriental Numismatic Society from1997 until his death. He was Founding Member, and for some time also Honorary Treasurer, of the Bhutan Society in U.K.Nicholas was also interested in Nepalese and Tibetan philately and as a member of the Nepal and Tibet Philatelic StudyCircle published various articles on the philately of Tibet, Sikkim and the Darjeeling area in the journal of the study circle“Postal Himal”.The collection of Tibetan coins of Nicholas Rhodes which is being offered in this auction surpasses the two aforementionedcollections both in terms of total size and in the number of rare and extremely rare coins being offered. I would like to pointout a few highlights of the collection:– From the first silver coins struck in Tibet, one example of a beautifully designed silver tangka, referred to as “ShriMangalam tangka”, and a rare variant of the tangka bearing Vartula script;– The Sino-Tibetan issues include a rare variant of a half sho, Qian Long 58th year, two variants of the very scarce and odd61st year of Qian Long and a silver sho, dated to the second year of Jia Qing (a very rare coin which so far has neverbeen offered in any auction), along with other rare silver sho issues of this ruler (years 4, 5 and 6);– Almost all the rare regular issues of the coinage issued between 1908 and 1954, the highlights being a 1 Srang dated15-48 and a beautiful example of the 5 sho silver coin in the name of Xuan Tong;– In addition to the regular issues, the collection is very rich in rare Tibetan pattern coins, the most spectacular among thesebeing an undated 10 Tam coin of ca. 1910, the heaviest silver coin which was ever struck in Tibet, and two furtherexperimental pieces of 10 Tam which are equally rare, one of them being perhaps the most attractive coin ever struck inTibet.In view of the fact that the supply of rare Tibetan coins coming directly from Lhasa or indirectly from Nepal or India hasalmost dried up in recent years, one may state without risking exaggeration that the collection of Tibetan coins being offeredhere presents a unique opportunity to acquire some of the rarest Tibetan coins and that it is doubtful whether such anopportunity will ever come up again during the lifetime of most of those numismatists who seriously collect Tibetan coins.Wolfgang BertschWWW.SPINK.COM
August 21, 2013 - HONG KONGA Brief Introduction to the Coinage of TibetWolfgang Bertsch1. Historical OverviewAlthough Tibet’s main neighbours had their own coinage since time immemorial, in ancient Tibet the use of coins was veryinsignificant. Tibet had no locally struck coinage, however some coins from India, Nepal, Xinjiang and China had reachedTibet by way of trade or as donations to important monasteries. Some of these coins may have entered circulation, but didnot develop into an important instrument for transactions in daily life, since almost all domestic and foreign trade was carriedout by barter.Tibet had the highest trade volume with China, the main barter items being horses from north-eastern Tibet (Amdo) whichwere traded for Chinese tea. Tibet also exported medicinal herbs, stag antlers, musk and gold and imported silk cloth,porcelain and silver. The trade volume with Tibet’s southern neighbours, India, Nepal and Bhutan, was much smaller. TheTibetan traders mainly exchanged salt and wool for grain (including rice) with these countries. Traditionally one measure ofsalt was traded for one measure of grain at the border with Nepal and India. Other, less important export goods were yaktails, musk and live animals (goats and sheep). The export of falcons to India is also recorded during the 17th Century(Pennant, vol. I, 1798, p. 356).Gold dust, mostly tied up in small leather bags 1 , and Chinese silver ingots were used for large transactions within Tibet. Theseingots came in different shapes, the most common brand resembling horse or donkey shoes, were named rta rmig ma inTibetan. Marco Polo reports that red coral also served as currency in Tibet. For small transactions, various consumer goodswhich had about the same standard value among the majority of the Tibetans could be used. Among others, these were arecanuts, tobacco, ceremonial scarves (Khadag, Tibetan: kha btags) and tea (Gabrisch, 1990). The tea was usually traded in theform of bricks (Tibetan: ja sbag) and developed into the most important medium of exchange in the 19th Century when aregular coinage had already been introduced into Tibet (Bertsch, 2006). For very small purchases, cowries (small sea shellswhich were mainly procured in the Maldive Islands and reached Tibet and China via Bengal) and stone beads are alsorecorded as money for ancient Tibet (Xiao Huaiyuan, 1987).The first coinage extensively used in southern Tibet were silver coins supplied by the Nepalese Malla kingdoms and the firstkings of the subsequent Shah dynasty from about 1640 until 1791 (Rhodes et alii, 1989). Tibet provided the silver for thestriking of these coins and received coins at the same weight, the Nepalese reaping a handsome profit by alloying the puresilver with copper before the striking. Owing to a dispute between Nepal and Tibet regarding the fineness of the silver coinssupplied by Nepal, the export of these coins was disrupted after the mid-eighteenth Century. In order to overcome theshortage of coins in Tibet at that time, the Tibetan Government started striking its own coins modelled on Nepaleseprototypes. This occurred in 1763/64 (Martynov, 1965 and 1987; Rhodes, 1990; Bertsch & Gabrisch, 1986 and Gabrisch,1999).The Nepalese tried to carry on the very lucrative coin business during the Shah dynasty, which had been established by KingPrithvi Narayan Shah in the Kathmandu Valley in 1768. First the Nepalese supplied mohars (silver coins which weighedabout 5.4 grams) of good silver, but wanted these to circulate at the rate of one new Mohar for two of the old adulteratedsilver coins struck by the Malla kings. This would have meant a tremendous loss for the Tibetan traders, and the Tibetangovernment did not accept these terms. The second Shah King who ruled from Kathmandu, Pratap Simha, supplied alloyedsilver coins during the period 1775 until 1777. But when the Nepalese again tried to introduce coins of good silver tocirculate at a considerable premium compared with the Malla and Pratap Simha coins, the Tibetans refused, trade betweenNepal and Tibet was disrupted and Tibet again experimented with its own coinage in 1785 to mitigate the shortage of silvercoins. In order to resume the profitable coin export on their own terms, the Nepalese invaded Tibet in 1788 and again in1790/91.When the Tibetan government turned to China for help, an Imperial army was sent to Tibet and together with the Tibetanarmy drove out the Nepalese by autumn of 1792. The Chinese government took this opportunity to tighten their grip on Tibetand issued an Imperial edict which among other dispositions stipulated the introduction of a new silver coinage, struck in thename of Emperor Qian Long (Rhodes, 1990). At the same time, it was forbidden to import silver coins from Nepal. In orderto temporarily solve the shortage of coins in Tibet when the Chinese army arrived in 1791, the Chinese had allowed thestriking of the so-called Kong Par Tangkas, which were produced from alloyed silver and had a design copied from Nepaleseprototypes. These tangkas, which were first produced in the Kongpo province and later in Lhasa, were the first massproducedsilver coins of Tibet and had about the same weight as their Nepalese counterparts, i.e. about 5.2 grams (Bertsch,2008).7
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Early Coins dated 15-43 (1909)THE N
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BANKNOTES OF TIBETBANKNOTES OF TIBE
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BANKNOTES OF TIBET518Tibet, 25 Tam,
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BANKNOTES OF TIBET524Tibet, 50 Tam,
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BANKNOTES OF TIBETTHE 5 SRANG NOTET
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BANKNOTES OF TIBETTHE 25 SRANG NOTE
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TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR BUYERSThes
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(ii)(iii)By cheque or bank draft ma
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SALE CALENDAR 2013STAMPS15/16 Augus
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