1433

MONGOLIA: 180x113mm, Mongolian brick "tea money" produced circa 1900, two birds, VF

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - Asia & Middle-East Start Price:170.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 300.00 USD
MONGOLIA: 180x113mm, Mongolian brick  tea money  produced circa 1900, two birds, VF
SOLD
220.00USD+ (44.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2021 May 14 @ 16:15UTC-7 : PDT/MST
PLEASE NOTE: You must request a bid limit when you register. If you would like to have a large bid limit, you must provide adequate references, or you must have previously established strong credit history with our company. Late registration may result in delayed approval.
MONGOLIA: 180x113mm, Mongolian brick "tea money" produced circa 1900; two small birds on front with TEA in English at lower right, Chinese characters at lower left, chipped corner, VF, ex Charles Opitz Collection.

Due to the high value of tea in many parts of Asia, tea bricks were used as a form of currency throughout China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia. Tea bricks were in fact the preferred form of currency over metallic coins for the nomads of Mongolia and Siberia in the early 20th Century. The tea could not only be used as money and eaten as food in times of hunger but also brewed as allegedly beneficial medicine for treating coughs and colds. Until World War II, tea bricks were still used as a form of edible currency in Siberia. The average brick was valued at 1 Szechuan-Tibet rupee or 8 ga-den tangkas, and used for paying wages, buying provisions, and in ordinary trading.