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1/2 Rupee - In the name of Guangxu, 1875-1908 'Szechuan Rupee', silver, two obverses
| Issuer | Tibet |
|---|---|
| Year | 1904-1912 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 5.60 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Left-facing bust of a Tibetan figure identical in design to the obverse, depicting the same elaborately dressed portrait wearing a traditional headdress with spherical finial and a braided queue descending over the shoulder. The robes are rendered with intricate scroll and foliate engraving at the collar and chest. As with the obverse, the portrait fills the field without a surrounding legend, confirming the 'two obverses' nature of this variety, where both dies carry the bust motif rather than the customary reverse inscription or dragon design. The reeded rim encircles the composition. |
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| Edge | Reeded. |
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| Additional information |
Tibet began striking its own rupee-weight coins around 1902–1904 specifically to displace the Indian Rupee — and particularly the Sichuan-minted Chinese trade rupees — that had saturated Tibetan markets following the expansion of cross-Himalayan commerce. The "Szechuan Rupee" type borrowed its authority from the Guangxu reign title while being struck in Lhasa, a deliberate political hedge that invoked Qing legitimacy without submitting to Qing mint control.
The two-obverse variety — no reverse in the conventional sense — remains incompletely explained in the literature. Whether a minting error, a deliberate die pairing, or a product of the chaotic conditions at the Lhasa mint during the 1904–1912 period is unresolved.