15 Kyat - Mindon Min Gold Pattern

Mindon Min came to power in 1853 after deposing his half-brother Pagan Min, whose catastrophic mishandling of the Second Anglo-Burmese War had just cost Burma its southern provinces. The new king moved quickly to modernize the Konbaung state, and this gold pattern was part of his broader effort to establish a Western-style decimal coinage — a project he pursued with genuine interest but never fully implemented during his reign.

Patterns of this type were produced in very small numbers and never entered circulation. Most surviving examples trace back to diplomatic or administrative channels rather than any mint distribution.