Over The Moon, Once Again

Former Ambassador Tobgye S. Dorji and Aum Genzing generously gifted me 2 copies of the 1928 Bronze Zangtrum. It is incredibly generous of them – as a collector and researcher only I can understand how uncommon a gesture this is. But in Dasho Tobgye's words:

“The coins serve better purpose with some one like you than with  someone like me – I know that the nation will benefit if you own them. With me they would just lie around tied up inside a leather pouch”.

1928 Bronze Zangtrum: Incredibly rare gesture - gifting these rare coins

Now I am short of only one coin – one milled variety struck in 1928. There is another hammered variety that would have been struck between 1873 and 1879 – if I am able to acquire it, it would be a bonus. But even without it, my collection would be complete but for the 1928 milled coin. I need this hammered variety for validation purpose only. Once I have these two in my collection, I will have completed my collection of both hammered and milled coins of Bhutan, beginning 1790 all the way to 1954. I do not mean that I have every coin that was ever hammered – it means that I have a number of representative coins from all the four periods during which our coins were hammered, until milled coins arrived in 1928.

The 1954 milled coin should have been dated “Shing Taa (Wood Horse) Lo Jatrum Ched”. But it is erroneously marked “Chaag Taag (Iron Tiger) Lo Jatrum Ched”. And there is a mistake on the obverse of the coin – they used the old die with the disconnected Ba-Ra-Ta-Da. Meaning that this coin is in error – both on the obverse as well as on the reverse. But while errors on the obverse are uncommon, errors in dates are not unique to Bhutan – it happens in other countries as well. In numismatic circles such occurrences are known as “frozen date”. The reason is solely because of the carelessness of the issuing authorities.

Coins struck after 1954 gets disgusting – until 1974 and 1975 when they regained respectability. Sadly thereafter, once again, as of 1979 they are full of errors that never got corrected to this day. Some mistakes are simply inexplicable.

It has been a long journey for me – my quest to dig up historical backgrounds and events that shaped the history of money in the country. The search took me to Canada, Belgium, Germany, the UK and India. Besides being tiresome, it has been rather expensive. But now my search is nearing the end. In fact it has ended, except for that 1928 milled coin that is missing. Once I have it, I am ready to put together a perplexing history of Bhutan’s numismatic march of errors.

The experience has been truly enriching. Some of the amazing things I have stumbled on, in the process of digging deep into the matter – I am now able to understand why some things have been the way they have been.

The coins may be inanimate objects fashioned out of lifeless metals - but the story they tell is profound - one of patience, tenacity and supreme tolerance, qualities that helped our Monarchs surmount and survive numerous tangles of web, treachery and conniving, to ably deliver our beloved Kingdom into the 21st century, intact.

PS: In my relentless search for coins, I was aghast to learn that majority of the packaged old Bhutanese coins, including modern ones currently sold in Bhutan are marketed here by dealers from Nepal. Strangely, the same situation prevails in our antique textile trade - they all find their way back into the country - through Nepal.