The Tibetan Mints
Among the most important mints in the early 20th century were one known by the name 'dod dpal (las khung) located in Shol, below the Potala Palace, and one located about 10 kilometers north/northeast of Lhasa in the Dode valley (dog bde or dog sde valley)
Another important mint was located in Trabshi (4 kilometers north of Lhasa on the way to Sera monastery). This mint was modernized in the early 1930s, all the machinery of the other mints was subsequently transferred to this establishment, which was operated as the only Tibetan Government mint from 1932 onwards It had the official name Trabshi Lotrü Lekhung (grwa bzhi glog ´khrul las khung, the "Trabshi electric machine factory"). Nowadays the huge compound of the former mint is occupied by one of Lhasa´s several prisons, known as "Trabshi Prison".
Furthermore a mint named gser khang ("gold house"), located west of the Norbu Lingka, was in operation in the 1920s for the striking of gold and copper coins. A mint referred to as Mekyi (Tibetan me kyid; short for me tog skyid po meaning "enjoyable flowers") was located in the residence of the Chinese Amban and was perhaps used by the Chinese in 1910 to strike Sino-Tibetan coins. It was taken over by the Tibetan government after the forced departure of the last Amban in 1913, and coins were minted there between 1914 and the early 1930s. An establishment located south of the Kyichu (river) near Lhasa, known as Tip Arsenal, is occasionally mentioned as mint", but there is no evidence that coins were struck there. A small facory destined for the production of copper blanks existed in the Chumbi valley about half way between Yatung and the Tibeto-Sikkimese border; its name was Norbu Tsoki (Tibetan: nor bu mthso dkyil) and it was operational between 1923 and 1928.
The coins of the 18th and 19th century were struck by hand and those of the early 20th century by locally built, water- or man-powered machines. From the 1920s coins were struck by machines imported from England and from British India, first on an experimental basis in 1928 and 1929, and then on a large scale from 1932 to 1938, and again from 1946 to 1954. The electric power for these machines was supplied by a hydroelectric power plant in the Dode valley which was set up between 1927 and 1928 with equipment which had been imported from England in 1924.
Read more about this topic: Historical Money Of Tibet