Item number: A3722

Year: AD 1866-1867 (BE 1228)

Material: Gold

Size: 15.9 x 15.9 mm

Manufactured by: Mandalay Mint

Provenance:

1. Heritage Auctions 2025

2. Eternal Collection

This is a gold coin struck between AD 1866 and 1867 by King Mindon of the Konbaung dynasty at the mechanised mint in Mandalay, the royal capital. Its denomination is 2 mu and 1 pe.

The obverse bears the left-facing figure of a chinthe (sometimes interpreted as a qilin), standing on all fours with its mouth open as if roaring. In Burmese culture, the image or sculpture of the chinthe is widely used to adorn temples, monasteries, and objects associated with royalty or nobility, symbolising protection. Around the upper perimeter of the obverse is the Burmese inscription “ခြင် သေ တံဆိပ် တော်” (Chinthe tazeik taw), meaning “Royal Lion Seal”. Below appears “၁၂၂၈”, indicating the Burmese Era year 1228, corresponding to AD 1866–1867.

The reverse adopts a laurel-wreath design influenced by the British Indian rupee, with two sprays of laurel leaves encircling the central inscription “မြူၥဲသုံးဒင်္ဂါး” (hnit mù t’be thon dinga), meaning approximately “To be used at the value of 2 mu and 1 pe”. The outer legend reads “ရတနာပုံနေပြည်တော်”, referring to the “Royal City of Jewels”. Both obverse and reverse have a fine, squared beaded border, though the teeth on the reverse are more rounded.

King Mindon, the penultimate monarch of the Konbaung dynasty, is widely regarded as a pivotal figure in Burma’s modernisation. During his reign he undertook major reforms of the administrative system, taxation, judicial institutions, and the military, and actively introduced Western technologies to strengthen the state. Confronted by the steady advance of British colonial power, Mindon strove to preserve the sovereignty of Upper Burma while simultaneously promoting diplomacy and public works to maintain a degree of autonomy amidst competing imperial interests. He sponsored the establishment of newspapers, reformed land administration, founded factories and schools, and presided over the Fifth Buddhist Council, transforming Mandalay into a renewed centre of Buddhist scholarship and political authority.

The Mandalay Mint was a royal institution created by Mindon to modernise the monetary system, and came into operation around AD 1865 within the palace precinct, south of the North Gate. Its machinery was supplied chiefly by Heaton & Sons of Birmingham, while certain technical components and trial equipment may have come from France. The engineer Edward Wyon was dispatched to Mandalay to assist in establishing and operating the complete minting system. Equipped for smelting, striking and assay work, the mint was capable of producing large quantities of gold and silver coins of consistent quality. According to Burmese and British records, the Mandalay Mint could strike up to 15,000 rupee-equivalent silver coins per day, making it one of the most advanced industrial facilities in Upper Burma at the time.

The monetary system under King Mindon used the kyat as the basic unit, with both silver and gold denominations produced at the Mandalay Mint. Eighty pya equalled twenty pe, which equalled ten mu, or five mat, together equivalent to one kyat. Furthermore, sixteen silver kyat were equal in value to one gold kyat. The silver issues generally followed the weight standards of the Indian rupee, enabling a degree of interchangeability between Burmese and British Indian currency. The term kyat remains the name of the Burmese currency today.

物件編號: A3722

年代: 公元 1866-1867 年 (緬曆 1228 年)

材質: 金

尺寸: 15.9 x 15.9 mm

製造地: 曼德勒鑄幣廠

來源:

1. 海瑞德拍賣行 2025

2. 永恆收藏

這是一枚公元1866至1867年間，緬甸貢榜王朝的敏東王以首都曼德勒的機械鑄幣廠所鑄造的金幣，面額2姆1佩。

錢幣正面是一隻獅子(Chinthe，一說為麒麟)的左側立像，四肢著地，張口似乎在咆哮。緬甸文化中，獅子圖案或雕像常用以裝飾廟宇、寺院、或王公貴族的用具等，有守護的寓意。獅像周圍上方環列緬甸文「ခြင် သေ တံဆိပ် တော် 」(Chinthe tazeik taw)，意為「皇家獅印」。下方「၁၂၂၈ 」，標示緬曆1228年，即公元1866至1867年。

錢幣背面則是受到英屬印度盧比影響的桂冠設計，兩枝月桂葉環繞中央幣銘「မြူၥဲသုံးဒင်္ဂါး」(hnit mù t’be thon dinga)，約意為「以二姆一佩的價值使用」。外圍則為「ရတနာပုံနေပြည်တော်」，意指「珠寶之國」。正背面幣緣皆為細方齒，背面齒尖稍圓。

敏東王是貢榜王朝倒數第二位君主，被廣泛視為緬甸近代化進程中的關鍵推動者。他在位期間致力於改革行政、稅制、司法與軍政制度，並主動引入西方技術以強化國家實力。在英國殖民勢力步步進逼的背景下，敏東王一方面努力維持上緬甸的主權，另一方面亦嘗試透過外交手段與基礎建設推動，使國家能在強權競逐間保持相對的自主。他推動設立報紙、改革土地制度、興建工廠與學校，並主持第五次佛典結集，使曼德勒成為佛教文化與政治的新中心。

曼德勒鑄幣廠是敏東王為推動貨幣制度現代化而建立的皇家鑄幣機構，約於公元1865年啟用，位於皇家宮城北門以南的宮苑區。鑄幣廠的設備主要由英國伯明罕的希頓公司提供，部分技術與試驗設備則可能來自法國。工程師愛德華・瓦約恩被派往曼德勒協助設立與操作整套鑄幣系統。該造幣廠同時具備熔金、壓印與檢驗設備，能大量生產質量一致的銀幣與金幣。根據英緬官方文獻記載，曼德勒鑄幣廠每日可壓製達 15,000 枚盧比等值的銀幣，為當時上緬甸最先進的工業設施之一。

敏東王時期的貨幣制度以吉雅特(kyat)為基本單位，其銀幣與金幣皆由曼德勒鑄幣廠鑄造。80派雅(Pya)等於20佩(Pe)，等於10姆(Mu)，亦即5馬特(Mat)，其價值合為1吉雅特(Kyat)。此外，16枚銀吉雅特等於1枚金吉雅特。銀幣主要依照印度盧比的重量標準鑄造，使其能在緬甸及英屬印度間具備一定的互換性。吉雅特於當代也是緬元的名稱。