1/2 Rupee / Deb Period III

Bhutan's early coinage was produced by hand-hammering at local workshops rather than mechanical mints, which means no two pieces from this long series are truly identical. The Deb Raja system under which these were struck was a theocratic administrative office — the secular counterpart to the Dharma Raja — and the coinage issued across that 75-year span reflects no standardization effort whatsoever. Copper purity varied with whatever local supply was available, and brass alloy pieces exist alongside copper ones without any apparent policy distinction.

The series ran until formal currency reform pushed Bhutan toward more regularized coinage in the early twentieth century.