1796年西藏乾隆宝藏一钱，24珠，约VF品相，币边有裂，带包浆，十分罕见。China, Qing Dynasty, issued for Tibet, 1-Sho, 3.52g, 61st year of Qian Long (1796), 24 beads on both sides, date reads clockwise, starting at 9 o clock near the rim: Nian Liu Shi Yi (year sixty-one), rev. Tibetan date reads clockwise, starting at 12 o clock near the rim: dgu cu re gcig (sixty-one) (YZM 116; KM. C#72.2; LM 640Avar), a couple of edge cracks, otherwise toned very fine and very rare. The Emperor Qian Long abdicated in favour of his son at the end of the 60th year of his reign. By the time the news about his abdication reached Lhasa, the mint had started to produce coins with the date 61 (Rhodes, 1975). The rare Sino-Tibetan coins of Qian Long, 61st year, form the subject of the short story "Vagabond Spirit" by the Chinese author Ma Yuan (born in 1953). See Ma Yuan: Ballad of the Himalaya: stories of Tibet, translated by Herbert J. Batt, Merwin Asia Publishing, Portland, Me., 2011. See also: http://merwinasia.com/Reviews/balad_of_the_himalayas_excerpts.php
