CHHERTUM: COIN OF BHUTAN
25 chhertum, 1979: Kingdom of Bhutan
Ruler: Jigme Singye Wangchuck (འཇིགས་མེད་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཕྱུག) — King of Bhutan (1972-2006).
TWENTY FIVE CHHERTUM.
ཕྱེད་ཀྲམ་ཉརེ་ལྔ།: twenty five chhertum.
Tibetan vishvavajra (a symbol of Vajrayana Buddhism): two crossing vajras (legendary and ritual weapon). The vishvavajra also appears in the state emblem of Bhutan; represents harmony between secular and religious power. — Another name is dorje (double diamond-thunderbolt).
ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF BHUTAN.
Two golden fishes (gaurmatsya), a symbol used in Vajrayana Buddhism, the state religion of Bhutan, to represent the auspiciousness of all sentient beings.
It is interesting that initially in 1979 a copper-nickel alloy coin of this type was issued. However, later, until 2003, the exact same coin was produced, but from a different alloy — aluminum-bronze plated steel. It was decided to keep the date "1979". It is easy to distinguish later emissions — they respond to a magnet.
Royal Mint (United Kingdom).
- Aluminium-bronze plated steel: 22 mm - 4.45 g
- Reference price: 1.2$
COIN CHHERTUM — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- KINGDOM OF BHUTAN (1979-...): chhertum = 1/100 ngultrum
About the name of the coin chhertum (Dzongkha "ཕྱེད་ཏམ"): in fact, chhertum (next to chetrum) is only one of two Latinized spellings of the name of the Bhutanese coin ཕྱེད་ཏམ.
Unfortunately, it is not known why in 1979 the English spelling of the coin name chetrum was changed to chhertum.
Be that as it may, the name of the coin is literally translated as "half of the coin" — in the context of this tremin marking half of a 1 rupee coin in the neighboring Indian principality of Cooch Behar (Koch Bihar).
