The March of Money: Part VI

The next year of Bhutan’s coinage was 1951, followed by 1954. In those two years, a confusingly vague kind of bronze coin came into being - it was not denominated, and it was not dated. The coin was called 1 Pice Maartrum. The coin's obverse and reverse looks as follows:

1954 Maartrum Copper coin that was named 1 Pice in numismatic circles

The following comparison of the two coins will reveal certain subtle differences in the two. The one on the left is 1951 issue and the one on the right is the 1954 issue. At first glance both of them look alike but the one on the right is lot more sharper in detailing.

Two different faces of the same coin

With the emergence of these 1951 and 1954 coins I felt that three repeated errors in the coinages had dealt a deathblow to the ill-fated Thala and thus was put to pasture. No such luck - it remerged in 1966. And this time the inaccuracy was even more disastrous - it was denominated 50 N.P. - meaning 50 Naya Paisa - Indian unit of currency. Perhaps the Calcutta Mint people took upon themselves to name the 1966 Thala as 50 N.P. since the Bhutanese currency unit Ngultrum/Chetrum came into being only in 1974 when our paper currency was first released. The 50 N.P. Thala looked like this:

The 1966 Thala was no longer called Jatrum Ched but 50 N.P. As of this mintage, the years of coinage ceased to be indicated in the lunar year

In addition to the 50 N.P. coin, the year 1966 also saw the release of 5 other none-circulating coins. The copper-nickel coin denominated 3 Rupees looked like thus:

Three gold coins, including a platinum one were issued as follows, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of His Majesty King Jigme Wangchuck:

1 Sertrum Gold

2 Sertrum Gold

5 Sertrum Gold

5 Sertrum Proof Set. Although called Sertrum, it was actually Platinum

All of the above 1966 mintage had the following flaws. The engraver employed to prepare the coin's die seems to have been a very poorly trained one:

Between 1928 to 1954, there were a total of 6 milled coinages - but for the record we have only two years of coinages - the Tsa Druk (1928) and the Chaag Taag (1950) years:

Over the years we have named our currencies as follows:

Maar-trum           - red coin or copper coin
Zung-trum           - bronze coin
Ser-trum               - gold coin
Debai Tikchung - silver coin (Debai = Deb's)
Tiru                     - money
Thala                   - half money
Shiki                    - quarter money
Ngultrum            - silver coin
Chetrum            - half coin

The most extensively used coin before the paper money came into being in 1974 was the Thala which was denominated “Jatrum Ched” and milled since 1928. Going by how the term is spelt, the literal translation of this term would be: “Ja (Jaga) Tam (Coin) Ched (Half)” meaning Half Indian Rupee.

A knowledgeable senior citizen argues that the terms "Ngultrum" and "Chettrum" should have never been coined and applied to our currency. According to him, it is incorrect. He explained that "Ngultrum" means "Silver Coin" and "Chetrum" means "Half Coin". According to him, paper money is not coin and half coin cannot be a unit of currency.

Another knowledgeable person said that our paper money should rightly be called “Shoglor” meaning Shog (paper) Lor (money).

The other very popular silver coin that was in use those days was the "Boe-trum". I removed it from the above list since I realized that "Boe" means Tibet. So it is not our coin. I pointed this out to some one in our National Museum, Paro, when I went there to look at their collection of coins and found that the Boetrum was on display in their display case.