50 Pyas

Burma's post-independence coinage was issued under the Union of Burma government established in 1948, but the transition from colonial-era British Indian currency to a fully sovereign Burmese series took several years to stabilize. The kyat and its subdivisions replaced the rupee system, with these pyas entering production once the mint arrangements — struck at the Royal Mint in London and later at the Bombay Mint — were finalized.

The series ran without redesign through a period of significant internal upheaval, surviving the 1958 military caretaker government and continuing into Ne Win's 1962 coup. Coins dated through 1966 predate the Revolutionary Council's eventual currency reforms.