Tibet, Qian Long, 1-Sho, 3.49g, 61st year, 24 beads on both sides, date reads clockwise, starting at 9 oclock near the rim: nian liu shi yi (year sixty-one), rev. Tibetan date reads clockwise, starting at 12 oclock near the rim: dgu cu re gcig (sixty-one) (YZM 116; KM. C#72.2; LM 640Avar), in PCGS holder, graded XF 45, very fine and very rareThe Qian Long Emperor abdicated in favour of his son at the end of the 60th year of hisreign. By the time the news about his abdication reached Lhasa, the mint had started toproduce 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: Balladof the Himalaya: stories of Tibet, translated by Herbert J. Batt, MerwinAsia Publishing,Portland, Me., 2011.See also: http://merwinasia.com/Reviews/balad_of_the_himalayas_excerpts.php
