Lot 1941 TIBET: AR vartula tangka 405.53g41， ND 401763/4 or 178541， Cr-5.1， YZM-252， the syllable dza in vartula-script repeated eight times on both sides， with eight-spoked wheel at center， obverse with double central circle， PCGS graded EF45， RRR， ex George Anderson， Nicholas Rhodes Collections 40Spink Auction 21 Aug 2013 Lot 141. On both sides the inscription represents the syllable 34dza34 eight times in vartula-script 40equivalent to the syllable 34ja34 in Sanskrit41. The 34ja34 may be short for 34ja ya34 40victorious41. Together with the wheel with eight spokes in the center the meaning would be 34victorious wheel34， referring to the teaching of the Buddha or more specifically to the dha rma ca kra 40Tibetan chos 39khor41， the wheel of religion which according to Buddhist tradition was set in motion by Buddha in the deer park of Sarnath， near varanasi 40Benares41. Chinese sources report that the first coins were struck in Tibet in 1763/4 and in 1785 and this coin has been been tentatively attributed to the years 1763/4， 1785 or to the early 19th Century 40Martynov， A. S.: 34O pervych chekankakh monety v Tibete34 Kr atkie Soobshcheniia Aka demia N auk SSSR， Institut N arodoz Azji， no. 69， Moscow， 1965， p. 197-20241. The attribution of this Tangka to 1763/4 40first Demo Tulku Regent41 was favored by Nicholas Rhodes 40see 34The first coins struck in Tibet34， Tibet Journal， vol. 15， no. 4， Dharamsala 1990， p. 56-6341. Wolfgang Bertsch suggested an attribution to the regency of the second Demo Tulku in the early 19th Century， since the syllable 34dza34 in vartula-script on the coin is very similar to the one which was engraved on the upper margin of the seal of the second Demo Tulku when he took office in AD 1811 40see: 34Some Difficulties in Dating an Early Tibetan Coin，34 Numismatics International Bulletin [N I B]， vol. 25， no. 8， Dallas， August 1990， p. 184-185 and Bertsch， Wolfgang and Gabrisch， Karl: 34Some varieties of Tibet39s First Struck Coins，34 N I B， vol. 20， no. 6， Dallas， June 1986， p. 125-12841. To our knowledge there are only 3 examples extant， one in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna， one in private hands in Nepal and this example.
