Historical Money of Tibet - Tibetan Currency Units

Tibetan Currency Units

Tibet had a dual and therefore complicated system of currency units. One was imported from Nepal and its basic unit was the "tangka" (also called "trangka" "tam" or "tamga"; equivalent to about 5.4 to 5.6 grams of alloyed silver). The other was imported from China and its basic unit was the "srang" (Chinese liang, equivalent to 37.3 grams of silver). These two systems were used in Tibet concurrently from about 1640 until 1959.

Calculating respective values of currency units The subdivisions of the srang Silver coins, solely struck in the 18th and 19th century
  • 1 srang = 6 2/3 tangkas
  • 1 tangka = 1 ½ sho = 15 skar
  • ½ tangka = 7 ½ skar
  • 1 sho = 2/3 tangka = 10 skar
  • 1 srang = 10 sho = 100 skar
  • 1 sho = 10 skar
  • 1 srang was called "srang gang"
  • 1 sho was called "zho gang"
  • 2 sho were called "zho do"
  • ½ sho
  • ½ tangka = ¾ sho
  • 1 sho
  • 1 tangka

The small units of ½ sho and ½ tangka were only struck for circulation in small numbers in 1793. There also exist some ½ sho coins dated Qian Long 59. These however are extremely rare, and most of them probably have to be considered as patterns or prototypes.

In the 20th century, the following units were struck:

Copper Silver or billon Gold
  • ½ skar ("skar che")
  • 1 skar ("skar gang")
  • 1/8 sho
  • ¼ sho
  • 2 ½ skar ("skar phyed gsum" or "kha gang")
  • 5 skar ("skar lnga")
  • 7 ½ skar ("skar phyed brgyad")
  • 1 sho ("zho gang")
  • 3 sho ("zho gsum")
  • 5 sho ("zho lnga")
  • 1 tangka
  • 1 sho ("zho gang")
  • 2 sho ("zho do")
  • 5 sho ("zho lnga")
  • 1 srang ("srang gang")
  • 1 ½ srang ("srang gang zho lnga")
  • 3 srang ("srang gsum")
  • 5 srang (in limited numbers; this coin was also struck in copper)
  • 10 srang ("srang bcu")
  • 20 srang ("gser tam")

  • 3 Sho copper coin dated 16-20 (= AD 1946), obverse

  • 3 Sho copper coin dated 16-20 (= AD 1946), reverse

  • 10 Srang billon coin, dated 16-24 ( = AD 1950), obverse.

  • 10 Srang billon coin, dated 16-24 ( = AD 1950), reverse

  • Tibetan 20 Srang gold coin dated 15-52 (= AD 1918), obverse

  • Tibetan 20 Srang gold coin dated 15-52 (= AD 1918), reverse

  • Half skar copper coin of the Xuan Tong era (AD 1910), obverse

Read more about this topic:  Historical Money Of Tibet

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