Item number: A1814

Year: AD 1923

Material: Copper alloy

Size: 25.5 x 25.5 mm

Weight: 7.23 g

Manufactured by: Nor Stod Gold Mint, Lhasa

Provenance:

1. Spink 2022

2. Wolfgang Bertsch Collection

This is a copper pattern coin minted by the de facto independent Tibetan government in the 57th year of the 15th Rabjung cycle of the Tibetan calendar (AD 1923). It was designed as the new version of the “Sertram Skor Mo” 20-Srang(tael in Tibetan) gold coin. The term “Sertram Skor Mo,” alternatively transliterated as “Sertram Guomu,” is a phonetic rendering of the Tibetan phrase གསེར་ཏྲམ་སྐོར་མོ་ (gser tram skor mo). In this phrase, གསེར (gser) means “gold,” ཏྲམ (tram) is a currency unit historically used for silver coins and is associated with historical silver trade between Tibet and the Gorkha Kingdom (modern Nepal), while སྐོར་མོ (skor mo) means “circular” or “round.” Thus, “gser tram skor mo” can be literally translated as “a circular currency unit valued in gold,” or more simply, a “gold yuan.” The actual circulating “Sertram Skor Mo” gold coins were minted between AD 1918 and 1921, whereas this copper trial pattern was produced in AD 1923.

Both the obverse and reverse of this trial pattern feature a beaded circle as a border, accompanied by decorative rims. The obverse prominently displays a recumbent snow lion in the center, with its body facing left while its head is turned forward, baring its teeth. In Tibetan mythology, the snow lion was originally a wrathful demon responsible for spreading plagues but later became a symbol of Tibetan sovereignty and protection. Above the snow lion, the inscription རབ་བྱང་༡༥ (rab byung bco lnga) denotes “15th Rabjung cycle,” while below it, སོ་༥༧ (so lnga bdun) signifies “57th year.” The Rabjung cycle, derived from Indian traditions, follows a sixty-year cycle commencing in AD 1027; the 57th year of the 15th Rabjung cycle thus corresponds to AD 1923. Separating the inscriptions are small circular markers, while the outer ring features the traditional eight auspicious symbols of Tibetan Buddhism (བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྟགས་བརྒྱད་, bKra shis rtags brgyad), commonly translated as the “Eight Auspicious Signs” (Tashi Tagye). According to Tibetan Buddhist tradition, these symbols are arranged in a specific clockwise order, beginning with the White Parasol, followed by the Two Golden Fish, the Treasure Vase, the Sacred Lotus, the Right-Turning White Conch, the Endless Knot, the Victory Banner, and the Golden Wheel, also known as the Dharma Wheel. Originally, these symbols represented the regalia bestowed upon Indian kings at their coronation, but in Buddhist tradition, they were later reinterpreted as the sacred offerings presented to Śākyamuni Buddha by the Vedic gods upon his enlightenment. Each of these symbols carries distinct meanings, collectively representing the power and wisdom of the Buddhist path and the certainty of ultimate victory.

The reverse of the coin features the Tibetan inscription ཏམ་སྲང་ (tam srang) and ༢༠ (nyi shu), denoting a face value of “20 Srang” (Tibetan taels). Encircling this denomination is a decorative ring resembling the metal hoop at the head of a Tibetan monk’s staff (vKhar-gsil). The outermost inscription reads ༄།་དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་ཕྱོད་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ།, which can be translated as “Ganden Phodrang, Supreme Victory Over the Four Directions.” “Ganden Phodrang” originally referred to the residence of the Dalai Lamas at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa before assuming a broader meaning as the official government of Tibet, representing the authority of the Dalai Lama.

Prior to AD 1918, the dominant gold currency in Tibet was the Tola, or Terla, gold coin, produced in British India and named after its weight of one Tola. These coins featured an elephant on the obverse, with weight and purity specifications on the reverse. In AD 1918, the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, established the Nor Stod Gold Mint, often referred to as the Lodoi or Nordoi Mint, in Lhasa, where “Sertram Skor Mo” gold coins were produced as an imitation of the Tola gold coins. These new Tibetan gold coins had a purity of 900‰, were minted in a larger diameter, and were introduced to replace the Tola coins. The initial issue had a face value of 20 srang, with a production cost of only 13 srang, generating significant profit for the Tibetan government.

However, by AD 1921, the global price of gold surged dramatically, driving the price of one Tola of gold up to 30 srang. To avoid financial losses, the Tibetan government ceased gold coin production and repurposed the Nor Stod Gold Mint for copper coin minting instead. The 1923 trial pattern coin is scarcely documented in historical records and was likely produced purely for technical experimentation rather than circulation.

In AD 1931, the 13th Dalai Lama established the Tashi Electrical Plant, consolidating the equipment from three mints—Nor Stod (North Lhasa Mint), Dog Bde (Do-De Mint), and Me Skye (Meji Mint)—to introduce electric-powered minting technology. However, in AD 1950, following the Tibetan defeat in the Battle of Chamdo, Tibet’s military forces were decisively weakened. By AD 1959, the Chinese renminbi was introduced as the official currency, and the circulation of traditional Tibetan currency was prohibited.

物件編號: A1814

年代: 公元 1923 年

材質: 銅合金

尺寸: 25.5 x 25.5 mm

重量: 7.23 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

這是一枚於藏曆第15繞迥的57年(公元1923年)，實質獨立的西藏政府鑄造的銅質試鑄樣幣，為新版「色章果木」20兩金幣之設計。「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的鑄造時間為公元1918至1921年，該銅質試鑄樣幣之鑄造時間則為公元1923年。

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，齜牙咧嘴。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་༥༧」(so lnga bdun)為「第57(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57年，即為公元1923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。

樣幣背面的中央為兩行藏文「ཏམ་སྲང་」(tram srang)、「༢༠」(nyi shu)，即面額「20藏兩」。面額周圍的環，像是僧人所持天杖(vKhar-gsil)杖頂的金屬箍。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1923年之試鑄樣幣，目前少見於記載，可能僅為技術測試之用。

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。