Mindon Min refused to cede Burma's monetary system to British India, and these gold mu pieces were part of a deliberate effort to maintain an independent Burmese coinage as colonial pressure intensified following the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852. The Mandalay mint operated under royal patronage, and output was never large. Mindon died in 1878 without naming a successor, triggering a palace massacre and the dynastic instability that would end with the Third Anglo-Burmese War and full annexation in 1885.
Mindon Min refused to cede Burma's monetary system to British India, and these gold mu pieces were part of a deliberate effort to maintain an independent Burmese coinage as colonial pressure intensified following the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852. The Mandalay mint operated under royal patronage, and output was never large. Mindon died in 1878 without naming a successor, triggering a palace massacre and the dynastic instability that would end with the Third Anglo-Burmese War and full annexation in 1885.