Item number: A1816

Year: AD 1919

Material: Gold

Size: 24.7 x 24.7 mm

Weight: 11.47 g

Manufactured by: Nor Stod Gold Mint, Lhasa

Provenance:

1. Spink 2022

2. Wolfgang Bertsch Collection

This coin, marked as having been minted in the 53rd year of the 15th Rabjung cycle of the Tibetan calendar (corresponding to AD 1919), is identified as a “Gser Tram Skor Mo” gold coin. The term “Gser Tram Skor Mo,” sometimes transliterated as “Sezhang Guomu,” originates from the Tibetan phrase “གསེར་ཏྲམ་སྐོར་མོ་”. In this phrase, “གསེར” (gser) signifies gold, while “ཏྲམ” (tram) denotes a silver currency unit historically linked to monetary transactions between Tibet and the Gorkha Kingdom (modern-day Nepal). The term “སྐོར་མོ” (skor mo) refers to a circular shape. Thus, “གསེར་ཏྲམ་སྐོར་མོ་” may be literally translated as “a circular currency valued in gold,” or more simply as “gold yuan.” In practise, Sertram Skor Mo gold coins were minted only between AD 1918 and 1921. Due to its short period of issuance, it is considered relatively rare.

The obverse and reverse of this specimen are both encircled by a beaded border and a decorative rim. The central motif of the obverse features a recumbent snow lion, positioned with its body facing left in profile while its head faces forward. In Tibetan mythology, the snow lion was originally regarded as a malevolent spirit that spread epidemics. Over time, however, it became a symbol of Tibetan power and divine protection. Above the snow lion, the inscription “རབ་བྱང་༡༥” (rab byung bco lnga) denotes “15th Rabjung,” while the inscription below, “སོ ༥༣” (so nga sum), signifies “the 53rd (year).” The Rabjung chronological system, originating in India, follows a 60-year cycle commencing in AD 1027. The 53rd year of the 15th cycle thus corresponds to AD 1919. Separating the central elements from the outer ring is a circular arrangement of the “Eight Auspicious Symbols” (བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྟགས་བརྒྱད་, bKra shis rtags brgyad), known in Chinese as the “Eight Treasures” (八瑞相) or “Eight Auspicious Signs.” These symbols are traditionally arranged in a clockwise sequence starting from the topmost position, comprising the White Parasol (gDugs), the Golden Fish (gSer nya), the Treasure Vase (gTer gyi bum pa), the Lotus Flower (Pad ma, Chu skyes), the Right-coiled White Conch (Dung gyas vkhyil), the Endless Knot (dPal bevu), the Victory Banner (rGyal mtshan), and the Golden Wheel or Dharma Wheel (vKhor lo). Historically, these eight symbols were gifts presented to kings upon their enthronement in the Indian subcontinent. Within Buddhist tradition, they were later reinterpreted as offerings made by the Vedic deities to the Buddha upon his enlightenment. Each of these symbols carries its own distinct meaning, but collectively, they represent the power, wisdom, and ultimate victory of the Buddhist teachings.

The reverse of the specimen features a central motif of an eight-spoked golden wheel, which serves as a tangible representation of the Dharma Wheel (法輪) in Buddhist doctrine. The golden wheel is believed to possess the power to eliminate all “obstacles” and “delusions.” The presence of eight spokes symbolises the Buddha’s “Noble Eightfold Path” and the dissemination of Buddhist teachings in all directions. The outer ring bears the inscription “༄།་དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་ཕྱོད་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ།,” which may be translated as “Ganden Podrang, victorious over all directions.” The term “Ganden Podrang” refers to the residence of successive Dalai Lamas at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa before assuming political authority and is emblematic of the power vested in the Dalai Lama.

Prior to AD 1918, Tibet’s circulating gold coinage primarily consisted of the “Tola” (or “Teela”) gold coins produced in British India. These coins derived their name from their standard weight of one tola and featured an elephant on the obverse, with inscriptions indicating weight and fineness on the reverse. In AD 1918, the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, established the Nor Stod Gold Mint in Lhasa, which began minting the Sertram Skor Mo gold coins in imitation of the Tola coin. These new coins had an increased diameter and a gold content of 900‰ (90%) and were introduced as a replacement for the Tola coins. Initially, the Sertram Skor Mo coins were issued with a face value of 20 srang and a production cost of 13 srang, generating significant profit at the time. However, in AD 1921, due to a surge in global gold prices—raising the cost of gold to 30 srang per coin—production ceased to prevent financial losses. The Nor Stod Mint subsequently shifted to the minting of copper coins. A trial specimen produced in AD 1923 is scarcely documented, suggesting that it may have been solely intended for technical testing.

In AD 1931, the 13th Dalai Lama established the Zhashi Electric Mint, consolidating the equipment from Nor Stod, Dog Bde, and Me Skyd, three pre-existing mints, to introduce mechanised coin production powered by electricity. Following the defeat of Tibetan forces in the 1950 Battle of Chamdo, and the subsequent political changes, the circulation of Tibetan currency was ultimately discontinued in AD 1959 when the renminbi was formally introduced as the legal tender in Tibet.

物件編號: A1816

年代: 公元 1919 年

材質: 黃金

尺寸: 24.7 x 24.7 mm

重量: 11.47 g

製造地: 羅堆金幣廠，拉薩

來源:

1. 斯賓克拍賣行 2022

2. 沃爾夫岡.伯奇舊藏

這是一枚標示為藏曆第15繞迥的53年(公元1919年)，所鑄造的「色章果木」金幣。「色章果木」或譯「色章郭母」，為藏語「གསེར་ཏྲམ་སྐོར་མོ་」(gser tram skor mo)之音譯，「གསེར」(gser)為黃金，「ཏྲམ」(tram)為銀幣貨幣單位，與西藏歷史上和廓爾喀(今尼泊爾)之間的銀錢交易有關；「སྐོར་མོ」(skor mo)為圓形。「གསེར་ཏྲམ་སྐོར་མོ་」則可直譯為「以黃金計價的圓形貨幣」，或簡單理解為「金元」。實際流通的色章果木金幣，鑄造時間僅為公元1918至1921年，鑄行時間短暫，頗為稀有。

樣幣的正反兩面皆以一道浮星星點為圈，與邊輪作為裝飾。正面中央為趴臥的雪獅，軀體左向側視，頭部正視。雪獅原為西藏神話傳說中的一種厲妖，即傳播疾疫的兇神，後成為西藏權力與護佑的象徵。雪獅上方「རབ་བྱང་༡༥」(rab byung bco lnga)，意為「繞迥十五」，下方「སོ ༥༣」(so nga sum)為「第53(年)」。「繞迥」紀年源於印度，以六十年為一周期，自公元1027年起算，十五繞迥的第53年，即為公元1919年。以圓圈相隔，外圈為藏傳佛教傳統符號「བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྟགས་བརྒྱད་」(bKra shis rtags brgyad)，漢譯「八瑞相」或稱「八吉祥徵」，音譯「扎西達杰」。按藏傳佛教傳統，八瑞相自最上方順時針依序排列，為「白傘(gDugs)、雙魚(gSer nya)、寶瓶(gTer gyi bum pa)、妙蓮(Pad ma, Chu skyes)、右旋白螺(Dung gyas vkhyil)、吉祥結/無盡結(dPal bevu)、勝利幢(rGyal mtshan)、金輪/法輪(vKhor lo)。」八瑞相最早為印度區域國王即位時所獲贈的貢物，在佛教傳統中，成為釋迦牟尼得道時，吠陀眾神敬獻他的禮物。八瑞相各有寓意，總體而言象徵了佛門的力量、智慧，與必定到來的勝利。

樣幣背面的中央為八輻金輪，作為佛教教義中「法輪」的實物象徵，金輪被認為有斷滅一切「障」與「惑」的能力。而八道車輻的金輪，象徵了佛陀的「八正道」，以及教法的八方傳播。外圈為「༄།་དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་ཕྱོད་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ།」，可譯為「噶單頗章，威伏四方」，「噶單頗章」是歷代達賴親政前於拉薩哲蚌寺的居所，亦是代表達賴擁有的權力。

公元1918年以前，西藏流通金幣為英屬印度製的「托拉/鐵剌」(tola)金幣，因重量為1托拉而得名，正面為象，背面標示重量及成色。公元1918年，十三世達賴喇嘛丹嘉措，於拉薩設羅堆/諾兌金幣廠(Nor Stod Gold Mint)仿照托拉金幣，造「色章果木」金幣，含金量900‰，幣徑加大，以取代托拉金幣。初造之時面額20兩，成本為13兩，一時獲利頗豐。公元1921年，因世界金價飆升，每托拉金價漲至藏銀30兩，為避免虧本而就此停鑄，羅堆金幣廠則轉造銅幣。

公元1931年，達賴十三世設扎西電機廠，集合諾兌(nor stod)、奪底(dog bde)、梅吉(me skyd)，三個鑄幣場所的機具，以電力鑄造機製幣。公元1950年，昌都戰役中，藏軍被擊潰。公元1959年，藏區開始通行人民幣，舊藏幣禁止流通。