Item number: A1313

Year: AD 1920

Material: Copper

Size: 24.5 x 24.5 x 1.3 mm

Weight: 5.85 g

Manufactured by: Tibet, Dode Mint

Provenance: Teutoburger Münzauktion GmbH 2023

This is a 1 Sho copper coin minted in AD 1920 (54th year of the 15th Rabjung cycle in the Tibetan calendar) by the de facto independent Tibetan government at the Dode Mint, located north of Lhasa. In the Chinese-speaking collector community, the Tibetan term for “1 Sho” has been phonetically translated as “Xuekang” (雪康). The minting period for Xuekang copper coins spanned from AD 1918 to AD 1938, with four identified variations based on design details. This coin belongs to the “dotted type” variation.

Both sides of the coin are adorned with a beaded circle and a solid inner ring. At the centre of the obverse is a depiction of a lion raising its head to the right. Surrounding the lion are eight petals, each inscribed with Tibetan script reading: དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་ ཕྱོ་ ལས་རྣམ་ རྣམ་རྒྱལ། (dga’ ldan pho brang phyo(gs) las rnam rgyal), which translates as “Victory to the Ganden Palace in All Directions.”

The term “Ganden Palace” (dga’ ldan pho brang) refers to the residence of the Dalai Lama at Drepung Monastery near Lhasa, historically symbolising the authority of the Dalai Lama, particularly before assuming secular power. This inscription underscores the legitimacy and sovereignty of the Tibetan government during the coin’s issuance.

The reverse side of the coin features a beaded circle and a solid inner ring, with the denomination “ཞོ་ གར” (1 Sho) inscribed at the centre. Surrounding this are Tibetan script characters, embellished with small butterfly motifs, that read: རབ་བྱུང་ ༡༥་ ལོ་ ༥༤་ (rab byung 15 lo 54). This indicates the year of production in the Tibetan calendar—the 54th year of the 15th Rabjung cycle—which corresponds to the Gregorian year AD 1920.

In AD 1911, following the expulsion of Qing forces stationed in Lhasa, Tibet, under the leadership of the 13th Dalai Lama, embarked on significant modernisation efforts. These included the establishment of a new mint on the outskirts of Lhasa, symbolising Tibet’s de facto independence from both the Beijing and Nanjing governments of China. However, after the 13th Dalai Lama’s passing in AD 1931, these reforms came to a standstill. In AD 1950, after suffering defeat in the Battle of Chamdo, Tibet was compelled to sign the Seventeen-Point Agreement, marking the beginning of its control by the Chinese Communist government.

物件編號: A1313

年代: 公元 1920 年

材質: 銅

尺寸: 24.5 x 24.5 x 1.3 mm

重量: 5.85 g

製造地: 西藏, 奪底造幣廠

來源: 條頓堡錢幣拍賣 2023

這是一枚於藏曆第15繞迥的54年 (公元1920年)，實質獨立的西藏政府於拉薩北郊的奪底造幣廠鑄造的一錢銅幣，華文世界收藏家直譯一錢的藏語音譯為「雪康」。雪康銅幣的鑄造時間為公元1918至1938年，依細節分為四個版本，該物件屬於「點版」。

錢幣的正反兩面皆有一道珠圈和實心圓作為裝飾。正面的圓圈中央有一隻向右抬頭的獅子圖騰，周圍的八個花瓣分別打印藏文「དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་ ཕྱོ་ ལས་རྣམ་ རྣམ་རྒྱལ།」(dga’ ldan pho brang phyo(gs) las rnam rgyal)，意思是「噶單頗章諸方全勝」。「噶單頗章」是歷代達賴親政前於拉薩哲蚌寺的居所，亦是代表達賴擁有的權力。

錢幣背面為珠圈和實心圓裝飾的圓心是面額「ཞོ་ གར」(1兩)。外圍環繞著帶點蝴蝶紋飾的藏文「རབ་བྱུང་ ༡༥་ ལོ་ ༥༤་」則是出廠的藏曆年份，即第15繞迥的54年，換算為公元1920年。

公元1911年，駐紮於拉薩的清軍遭到驅逐之後，西藏於達賴十三世統治下大舉推動近代化，包含在拉薩近郊新建造幣廠，並且維持實質獨立於北京或南京中國政府的政治地位。公元1931年，達賴十三世圓寂之後，相關的改革陷入停滯。公元1950年西藏在昌都戰役遭到解放軍挫敗後，被迫簽訂《十七條協議》就此遭到中共的控制。