1 Tangka 'Suchakra Tangka'

The Suchakra Tangka takes its name from the Sanskrit term for "auspicious wheel," and was struck under the authority of the Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo Monastery rather than through any centralized Tibetan mint. Production was irregular and largely hand-hammered, which accounts for the striking inconsistencies endemic to the type. The Qing court's growing administrative interest in Tibetan affairs during this period had not yet produced the monetary reforms that would follow — those came only after the Gurkha invasions of the 1780s and 1790s forced Beijing's hand on coinage standardization.