THE COINAGE OF TIBET. 



13 



This mode of cutting the tang-ka must be peculiar to North Eastern and Eastern 

 Tibet. The tang-ka so cut up which he gives in the plate referred to, is also a Ga-den- 

 tang-ka, the standard tang-ka, which coin is never cut up at all in Central Tibet. 



Mr. Rockhill also mentions that in Eastern Tibet, about Ta-chien-lu at the time 

 of his visit (in 1888) only Indian Rupees were current, and when a smaller piece of 

 money was needed rupees were chopped in half or quartered 



There are six different kinds of tang-kas current in Tibet ' : — 



(1) The Ga-den Pho-dang tang-ka, so called from its inscription. Minted at 



Lhasa (Plates III (A) and III(B), figs. 1 and 2). 



(2) The Kong-par tang-ka, minted at Giamda on the borders of the Province 



of kong-bo. (Plates III(A) and III(B), figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6). 



(3) The Pa-nying tang-ka or " Old Nepalese " Coinage : The currency coined 



by theNewar kings of Nepal. (Plates III(A) and III(B), fig. 7, and 

 Plates IV(A) and IV(B), figs. 1 to 6). 



(4) The Nag-tang or " black tanka," a name given to the Nepalese coinage 



of Ranjit Malla Deva, A.D. 1722. (Plates III(A) and III(B), fig. 

 8, and Plates IV(A) and IV(B), fig. 7). 



(5) Chinese tankas minted for currency in Tibet. (Plates III(A) and III(B), 



figs. 9, 10 and 11). 



(6) Cho-tang 01 " cutting tanka." — -Nepalese coins since the Gorkha con- 



quest, not struck for currency in Tibet but which are generally 

 current (Plates III(A) and III(B), fig. 13). The name means the 

 tanka that is cut up, 2 as this tanka chiefly and also the kong-par 

 tang-ka are the only ones that are sub-divided. 



The tang-ka has not a fixed standard either of weight or size, or assay. 



Number of coins 

 on plate. 

 1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 6 



7 

 8 



9 

 10 



m 



Weight in 



The 



following table gives the size and weight of the coins figured on Plates III (A) and 

 III(B) :- 



Diameter 

 inches. 



i'i5 

 in 

 1-07 

 1-04 

 1-05 

 1.04 

 i-ii 



I'lO 



1-05 

 1-09 

 106 



11 



80 

 72 

 64 

 76 



93 



88 

 104 

 101-5 



78-5 



77'5 

 78 



' Rockhill, " Land of the Lamas," p. 208. 



2 ^^7 '■ «■ ^5^1*^1 j 



