For a country that did not use money, Bhutan was flooded with overabundance of metal currency - from six different countries and perhaps more than half a dozen mintage of our own.
The most abundant coins were those from the then independent Kingdom of Cooch Behar known as the “Narayani Rupee”. Cooch Behar had extensive trade relations with Bhutan. Not only that they travelled to Tibet through Bhutan. The Cooch Beharis suffered overlording by the Bhutanese. They were repeatedly robbed, plundered and enslaved. In fact it is recorded that two villages in Bhutan are populated with the descendants of Cooch Beharis enslaved by the Bhutanese few centuries back. Cooch Behar was the state that Bhutan interacted with most. Some of the coins from Cooch Behar were the following:
Examples of Narayani Rupee coins from the reigns of five different Maharajas of Cooh Behar
The other nation whose coins were preferred in Bhutan and became freely available plentifully were those of British India. In fact, British India used its metal currency to keep Bhutan within its sphere of influence. Bhutan’s request for supply of dies to mint coins was denied outright - to ensure that Bhutan did not have the capability to have our own currency. British India took drastic measures to exert influence over Bhutan, to the extent that at one point they even closed down Cooch Behari mint – to cut off supplies of coins to Bhutan so that the Bhutanese are forced to continue to use British India coins. The following were some of the coins of British India that could be found in Bhutan:
Coins of British India period
The other most abundantly available coins in the country were those from Tibet. Bhutan had good relations with Tibet - trade, political, social and religious. Due to an active trade with that country, lot of Tibetan coins found its way into Bhutan. Even the Chinese coins that entered Bhutan came through Tibet. The following are examples of the Tibetan coins that were available in the country:
Tibetan silver coins called Boetrum
Quite a lot of Chinese coins were also available in Bhutan. They were principally treasured for their bullion value - they were hardly ever used as currency. China also pressurized Bhutan - in fact they issued a proclamation requiring Bhutan to use the Chinese coins, particularly after the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1910. Bhutan remained unimpressed, and continued to prefer the British India coins since the bulk of our trade was with India in the south.
Examples of Chinese coins that became available in Bhutan were the following:
Chinese silver coins
Since Assam bordered Bhutan, their coins also found their way into the country. They were mostly melted down to make ornaments since their silver content was very high. Examples of their coins that were available in Bhutan are the following:
Coins from the independent state of Assam
Strangely even the French Indian coins from their Arcot mint were available in Bhutan. In fact they were highly prized for their superior silver content. French India had a outpost at Goalpara – now in Assam - to carry out trade with Assam. The following is an example of their coin that found its way into Bhutan:
Coins of French India that entered Bhutan through Goalpara, currently part of the Indian state of Assam
Nice one sir
ReplyDeleteWorth reading
Greetings, Yeshi, I just discovered your blog page and thoroughly enjoy the coin series. Excellent work! If you would email me privately at either lnadybal@bhutan.org or lnadybal@philatelic.info, I have some things to share with you and a couple of questions. See next post, too.
ReplyDeleteItems I can leave with you here, are: 1. I have a letter from the Royal Mint (1970) stating that the mint report from Alipore shows that 3,345,000 nickel Bhutan half rupees stuck in Alipore in 1967, and in 1968, a further 6,735,000 were struck there, but the mint doesn't know the dates on them. Noted in Pick as No 28, dated 1950 in Qty of 10,000.
ReplyDelete2. You show an example of a gold-washed Maartrum in your article part XIII. I have a number of examples of silver washed coins, too, that were mentioned in Rhodes' articles. I can provide images of those. Cont'd part III
3. There is also an interesting treatise on the coins from a Charles Panish of the US. It might shed additional light on items you study. Can provide, too.
ReplyDelete4. You haven't touched on the topic of hammered coins showing British India coin design under them. Will you be covering that, do need images of such?
5. In the Jan 10, 2011 Kuensel, an article appeared about a police sting action that stopped a person "illegally" selling antique coins (hammered coins in the pictures). You wrote that at the RMA these were so plentiful that they were a burden to account for and too heavy for modern day use. If so, why would it be illegal to sell them? I got hundreds during my trips; people came to me with handfuls. I've been trying to type them - to see what / how many variations in designs point to different dies. You almost have to use fingerprint comparison software to make progress.
6. On Nov 12, 1968, the Bhutan P&T issued three circular "coin stamps" overprinted to commemorate Human Rights Year. These three were held back from issuance in July 1966 of another set of 9 coin stamps, because these three, which were to be part of a set of 12 slated for issue in 1966, pictured the reverse sides of the 1966 Wangchuck coronation coin set. Probably issued to market the coins. The dies from the coins were used to emboss the stamps, but these three showed "n.p" denominations on them. The overprinting with Human Rights Year text blocked the denominations on the coins from being visible. Some examples of the three without overprinting leaked and are available in the marketplace.
7, and last for today, four tax/fiscal stamps were issued in 1954 that also became valid for postage on 28 Sept 1955. They are denominated only with 1,2,4,8. They sold for 1,42,4 and 8 Annas Indian. But with decimalization of Indian currency on 1 April 1957, their sales price changed to 25np, 50np, 1Rupee & 5 Rupees. I was told by postal officials that the denominations were really "shiki. So, 8 shiki value from the set = 4 tala/tikchung/Jatrum Ched = 2 rupees (but sold for 5 rupees (??) Makes no sense. In the 1962 time frame, the blue value 1 shiki was surcharged with both 10 n.p. and 25 n.p. and these were sold at the SDO's office (at least in Phuntsholing). The 25n.p. on the blue 1 shiki (that equalled 215paisa all along, makes no sense, except to show it has a price in paise and not only shiki that isn't mentioned on the stamp. The 10 n.p. overprint makes a fifth revenue stamp, whilch may have been necessary or not, I don't know. Your blog study goes from the standpoint that Indian currency units on Bhutanese coins that Indians prepared didn't apply because Bhutanese currency was separate. Yet, it appears there was a Bhutanese currency unit called the Rupee and the n.p. on stamps, some coins, payroll records and government forms (receipts especially) that have Rupees and n.p. blanks that officials filled in when payments were made. You highlight Tibet and other nations' coins as having circulated in Bhutan and in at least one place in your blog, you say these were "legal tender" despite heavy reliance on barter. I was always told, and have read hundreds of times that the government of Bhutan made the Indian currency legal tender in Bhutan, and for the longest time at a 1:1 ratio w Ngultrum. I have currency equivalent tables that show the exchange value relationship between Tibet:Bhutan:India and it is quite confusing.
If you would email me at one of the addresses above, I'd like to carry this discussion further. Regards, stay safe. Len Nadybal, Washington DC USA