Item number: A1817

Year: AD 1934

Material: Silver (.780) (Historical Record)

Size: 30.9 x 30.9 x 1.7 mm

Weight: 12.05 g

Manufactured by: Tashi Electric Machine Factory, Lhasa

Provenance:

1. Spink 2022

2. Wolfgang Bertsch Collection

This is a silver coin known as “Srang Gsum Skor Mo,” or “Sangsong Guomu” in Chinese, minted in the eighth year of the 16th Rabjung cycle according to the Tibetan calendar (corresponding to AD 1934). The term “Srang Gsum Skor Mo,” derives from the Tibetan “སྲང་གསུམ་སྒོར་མོ”. In this phrase, “སྲང” (srang) refers to the Tibetan tael (or liang, a unit of silver and weight), “གསུམ” (gsum) means “three,” and “སྒོར་མོ” (skor mo) denotes “round” or “coin.” Hence, srang gsum skor mo signifies a “three-tael silver round coin.”

Both the obverse and reverse of the coin feature a border of raised star-like dots encircling the design, along with a decorative rim. At the centre of the obverse is a striding snow lion, depicted with its body facing left while its head is turned slightly, allowing both eyes to be visible. The surrounding adapted motifs likely represent celestial bodies, cloud patterns, or flames. The snow lion, originally a mythical creature in Tibetan folklore associated with malevolent spirits spreading plagues, later became a symbol of Tibetan authority and divine protection. The outer ring bears the inscription “དགའ་ལྡན ཕོ་བྲང ཕྱོགས་ལས རྣམ་རྒྱལ,” which may be translated as “Ganden Phodrang, Victorious in All Directions.” Ganden Phodrang refers to the residence of the Dalai Lama at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa before assuming full political authority, and by extension, it symbolises the power vested in the Dalai Lama. The inscription is arranged in pairs, separated by four dPal be’u or Endless Knots. The Endless Knot is a symbol of Vishnu’s consort Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune and prosperity, and as an extension of the ancient swastika, it also represents infinite wisdom and the interwoven nature of karmic causation in Buddhist tradition.

The reverse of the coin features two lines of Tibetan script in the centre, “སྲང གསུམ” (srang gsum), denoting “three Tibetan tael of silver,” separated by a circular dot. The outer ring reads “རབ་བྱུང བཅུ་དྲུག ལོ་བརྒྱད,” with the text arranged in pairs and separated by three Endless Knots, signifying “16th Rabjung, 8th year.” The Rabjung system of reckoning, originating in India, follows a 60-year cycle beginning in AD 1027, making the eighth year of the 16th cycle equivalent to AD 1934.

In AD 1932, in response to the excessive variety of Tibetan banknotes and coins, compounded by the financial difficulties faced by the government, a new coinage system was proposed to facilitate the exchange of old currency while generating revenue from minting. The 13th Dalai Lama approved the issuance of two denominations: a three-tael silver coin and a one-tael-five-mace silver coin. The coinage was produced using an alloy composed of 20 taels of Indian silver mixed with 3 taels of copper. The larger coin, weighing 3 mace and 2 candareens, was designated as the three-tael coin “Srang Gsum Skor Mo,” while the smaller coin, weighing 1 qian and 6 fen, was the one-liang-five-qian coin “Srang Gang Sho Lnga” (སྲང་གང་ཞོ་ལྔ). In AD 1933, the new coins were issued, and unlike previous designs, which traditionally featured four or eight Endless Knots, the new series bore seven. At the end of that year, the 13th Dalai Lama passed away, and the Tibetan government utilised the Srang Gsum Skor Mo coinage for funeral expenses and alms-giving. Consequently, both monastic and lay communities regarded the new coins as inauspicious. As a result, the production of this series ceased in AD 1934, and a revised version of the Srang Gsum Skor Mo was introduced in AD 1935. According to historical records, both the original and revised versions of the Srang Gsum Skor Mo had an approximate weight of 11.6 grams, a diameter of 3.1 millimetres, and a thickness of 1.85 millimetres, with a silver content of approximately 78%. Its specifications closely resembled those of the one-rupee silver coins circulating from British India, leading to the alternative designation of “Tibetan Rupee” beyond Tibet.

In AD 1931, the 13th Dalai Lama established the Tashi, Drapchi, Trabshi, or Tapchi Mint, integrating machinery from three minting locations—Nor Stod (Norbulingka Mint or Ser-Khang Mint), Dog Bde (Do-de Mint), and Me Skyid (Metokgang Mint)—to produce machine-struck coins powered by electricity. In AD 1950, during the Battle of Chamdo, the Tibetan army was decisively defeated. By AD 1959, the renminbi became the official currency in Tibet, and old Tibetan coinage was officially withdrawn from circulation.

物件編號: A1817

年代: 公元 1934 年

材質: 銀 (780‰) (史載)

尺寸: 30.9 x 30.9 x 1.7 mm

重量: 12.05 g

製造地: 扎西電機廠，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16繞迥的第8年(公元1934年)，所鑄造的「桑松果木」銀幣。「桑松果木」或譯「桑松郭母」，為藏語「སྲང་གསུམ་སྒོར་མོ」(srang gsum skor mo)之音譯，「སྲང」(srang)為藏兩，「གསུམ」(gsum)即「三」；「སྐོར་མོ」(skor mo)為圓形。「སྲང་གསུམ་སྒོར་མོ」即為「三兩銀元」之意。

銀幣的正反兩面皆以一道浮星星點為圈，與邊輪作為裝飾。正面中央為一昂首闊步之雪獅，軀體朝左，但頭部側轉，雙眼可見。雪獅周圍的適應紋樣可能描繪了星體、雲紋或火焰。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。外圈為「དགའ་ལྡན ཕོ་བྲང ཕྱོགས་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。該句文字兩兩成組，以四個吉祥結/無盡結(dPal bevu)相隔。吉祥結是毗濕奴之妻，幸運與財富女神吉祥天女(Lakashmi)的象徵。作為古老的卐字符號的延伸，在佛教中也象徵著無限的智慧與因緣輪轉。

樣幣背面中央二行藏文「སྲང གསུམ」，即「藏銀三兩」。以圓圈相隔，外圈「རབ་བྱུང བཅུ་དྲུག ལོ་བརྒྱད」，文字兩兩成組，以三個吉祥結相隔，其意為「繞迥十六第8(年)」。「繞迥」紀年源於印度，以六十年為一周期，自公元1027年起算，十六繞迥的第8年，即為公元1934年。

公元1932年，鑒於西藏鈔卷、幣種繁多，加以政府財政困難，故欲鑄行新幣以收兌舊鈔、硬幣，兼收鑄幣之利。十三世達賴喇嘛審批鑄行面額為三兩及一兩五錢的二種銀幣。鑄幣材料以印度白銀二十兩、摻銅三兩以鑄造。重三錢二分的大銀幣為三兩幣「桑松果木」，重一錢六分的小銀幣為一兩五錢幣「桑岡雪阿」(སྲང་གང་ཞོ་ལྔ)。公元1933年，新幣發行，與此前慣常使用的四個/八個吉祥結不同，新幣上的吉祥結為七個。同年底，十三世達賴喇嘛圓寂，西藏政府以「桑松果木」支應葬儀以及布施，於是僧俗認為新幣不祥。公元1934年該版式之三兩銀幣因此停鑄，公元1935年改鑄新版「桑松果木」。新舊版之「桑松果木」史載重約11.6公克，幣徑3.1公釐，厚1.85公釐，含銀量約78%。規格與英屬印度流入之一盧比銀幣相類，西藏以外有稱之為「西藏盧比」。

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。