Tibet's gold coinage of this period operated almost entirely outside Chinese imperial oversight, produced under the authority of the Ganden Phodrang government to facilitate high-value trade with neighboring regions. The Tongzhi-era issues are exceptionally rare survivors — few were struck, fewer still preserved — and the X#M470 reference places this firmly in the category of non-circulation presentation or treasury pieces rather than anything that passed through merchant hands.
Tibet's gold coinage of this period operated almost entirely outside Chinese imperial oversight, produced under the authority of the Ganden Phodrang government to facilitate high-value trade with neighboring regions. The Tongzhi-era issues are exceptionally rare survivors — few were struck, fewer still preserved — and the X#M470 reference places this firmly in the category of non-circulation presentation or treasury pieces rather than anything that passed through merchant hands.