1951 Tibetan 5-sho

[villa66]

A 1951 (16-25) 5-sho of Tibet coined in copper at Trabshi Lekhung, just north of Lhasa, 29mm in diameter and weighing approximately 8.5g. The date, 16-25, denotes a coin struck in the 25th year of the 16th cycle (of 60 years each), with the first cycle having begun in CE1026.

The coinage this 1951 5-sho belonged to is very much a thing of the past, of course. Tibetan coinage ended after the Chinese reasserted their control over the country, and the issues of 1953 were Tibet’s last.

Beginning in 1955 Chinese coins were introduced, and by 1959 or thereabouts, Tibetan coins like this one had been entirely supplanted by the coinage of the People’s Republic. About that time (1959) a widespread revolt against Chinese rule broke out, but was soon crushed. The Dalai Lama fled the country, and in 1965 Tibet became an autonomous region of China.

I have read, by the way, that about the time this 1951 5-sho was coined, it would have gotten a horse shoed.

v.