Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Sho Two suns, three mountains
| Issuer | Ganden Phodrang Government of Tibet |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947-1950 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Y#28.1, Y#28.2 |
| Obverse description | Central device features a snow lion passant rearing amid stylized rocky terrain and swirling waves, set against a backdrop of three mountains surmounted by a billowing cloud finial at the peak. Two radiant sun symbols flank the central mountain in the upper field, with additional scrolling cloud formations occupying the left and right fields. The entire design is enclosed within a continuous border of raised beads running along the coin's periphery. The composition is rendered in a traditional Tibetan artistic style with deeply incised, bold relief. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Reeded. |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Ganden Phodrang — the theocratic government seated at the Potala — operated its own mint at Dode, outside Lhasa, producing copper coinage with minimal outside influence until the Chinese People's Liberation Army entered Tibet in 1950. This 5 Sho issue falls precisely across that threshold. Production almost certainly halted not from monetary planning but from military interruption.
The Y#28.1 and Y#28.2 varieties are distinguished primarily by die differences in the mountain rendering and sun placement — minor enough to escape casual notice but consistent enough to be catalogued separately. Both varieties circulated together without distinction.