Spink London, 9th October 2025
The Spink Coin Department is honoured to return to the rostrum this October to present the latest instalment from the property of the late Nicholas Rhodes. Spink previously offered the collector and scholar’s North East India collection in 2013 and 2016, alongside his Tibetan collection in 2013 and again in 2018. After a pause of nearly a decade, collectors of the Indian subcontinent and Asian numismatics will be delighted to learn that the much-anticipated collection of Nepalese coins and medals is to be offered at auction. The collection will be presented to Spink bidders in two parts, with the first scheduled for 9th October, forming a fitting conclusion to the Coin Department’s star-studded Coinex programme.
Nicholas Rhodes (1946-2011) has been rightfully described as a “numismatic giant…a scholar and collector of immense importance” (JONS No.208). He spent a lifetime building a collection of coins and banknotes now universally recognised as one of the finest and most extensive of its kind. His specialist interests embraced the currency of the whole Himalayan region, from Kashmir and Ladakh, through Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, to Assam and the Hindu states of North East India.
Coin collecting was a passion that started in childhood for Rhodes. However, it was in 1962 that his lifelong fascination for oriental coins took root when he was introduced to the coins of Nepal, which at that time presented the opportunity to build a meaningful collection and provided a fertile field for original research. After leaving school, Rhodes travelled to Nepal where he encountered a bountiful and comprehensive array of Nepalese and Tibetan numismatics. Upon graduating from Cambridge, Rhodes qualified as an actuary and continued in this capacity for the rest of his working life. Alongside his professional career, he forged a reputation as one of the world’s leading experts in the coinage of the Himalayas through the publication of over 200 pioneering articles and several important reference books. The Coinage of Nepal, written in collaboration with close friends Carlo Valdettaro and Dr Karl Gabrisch and published by the Royal Numismatic Society in 1989, is the standard reference work for the series and “may be considered as Nicholas Rhodes’ magnum opus” (JONS No.208).
It is the sole Double Mohur to have been issued during the Malla period and was struck to celebrate twenty years of Pratap Malla’s rule
Alongside his scholarly pursuits, Rhodes was a well-known and highly regarded individual within academic and collecting circles. He was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society in 2002 and was a founding member of the Oriental Numismatic Society, which he served as Secretary General from 1997 until 2011.
The Nicholas Rhodes collection is understood to be the finest collection of Nepalese coins currently in private hands. Totalling approximately 3,500 noteworthy pieces, the collection is comprehensive in its breadth and quality and, in addition, is well documented. Indeed, Nicholas was renowned for his painstaking ability to track down every known variety of a series. The collection includes some magnificent highlights of the greatest rarity. It is also a valuable document that tracks the history of Nepal through its coinage from the 6th century to the 20th century. A full listing of coins, tokens and medals has been compiled by the renowned expert and close friend of Rhodes, Wolfgang Bertsch, and is intended to serve as a reference work for all collectors of this area of numismatics. It can also be used in conjunction with his seminal work The Coinage of Nepal.
Part one of the collection on offer this October will include an array of pieces from the earliest dated coins of Nepal through to modern proofs. The first known coins herald from the Licchavi period of the 6th and 7th centuries. Nicholas Rhodes was fundamental in establishing a progressive order for the series, therefore bringing to light the long overlooked numismatic beginnings of Nepal. The Rhodes Collection contains over 400 Licchavi coins, the largest collection of these fascinating early coins outside of Nepal.
A highlight from the Malla Dynasty is undeniably the rare Double Mohur of Jaya Pratap Malla (1641-1674) (estimate £2,000-£3,000). It is the sole Double Mohur to have been issued during the Malla period and was struck to celebrate twenty years of Pratap Malla’s rule. The design was inspired by the Rupee of Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1605-1627). However, it was made uniquely Nepali by the inclusion of the trident on the obverse and the sword on the reverse. The sword (khga) holds cultural importance in Nepal. According to tradition, Manjushri (also known as a boddhisvattva of wisdom) drained the ancient lake that filled the Kathmandu Valley by cutting through the mountain with his sword near Chobar. Kathmandu itself originally took the shape of a sword. Additionally, swords used as weapons normally had double cutting edges, and it is this type of symmetrical sword which is represented on Nepalese currency.
Moving to the later Shah Dynasty, where gold issues are more common, a standout lot is the Duitole Asarphi struck in the name of Prithvi Narayan Shah (1742-1775) (estimate £6,000-£8,000). The coin shares the same reverse die as the Duitole Asarphi of the later ruler Surendra (1847-1881) dated 1847, indicating that it was in fact struck posthumously and exclusively for Prime Minister Jang Bahadur Rana as a diplomatic gift for presentation to officials during his trip to Europe in 1850. Alongside this example from the Rhodes collection, only two others are recorded: one housed in the British Museum and another in private hands, which was purchased directly from the Rana family. The British Museum specimen forms part of a fine series of gold coins that were presented by Jang Bahadur Rana to Queen Victoria at that time.
The four emblems cakra (disk), gada (mace or club), shankha (conch) and padma (lotus) appear on the obverse of nearly all gold and silver coins of the Shah Dynasty. They are the emblems of the four-armed Hindu god Vishnu. The Shah kings of Nepal considered themselves as incarnations of Vishnu, a belief to which the four emblems on the coins allude.
The twentieth century too offers a scarcity with a connection to the Prime Minister of the time, this time taking the form of a silver portrait medal (estimate £1,500-£2,000). Dated 1914, it commemorates Chandra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, Prime Minister from 1901-1929 and shows him wearing a ceremonial crown. This medal was discussed by Nicholas Rhodes in “A Portrait Medal from Nepal” (Spink’s Numismatic Circular, London, April 1984, p. 77). Rhodes noted that these medallions were specifically made for insertion into the marble floor of the Pashupatinath Temple in the Kathmandu Valley. It is believed that this placement was an act of penance by Chandra Shamsher to atone for ousting his brother Dev Shamsher from the Prime Ministership at gunpoint in 1901.
Nicholas Rhodes is remembered by those who knew him as a generous collector who was always willing to share his time, resources, and knowledge with others
The medallion was almost certainly produced in England, probably in Birmingham. James O. Sweeny (A Numismatic History of the Birmingham Mint, Birmingham, 1981, p. 191) recorded that “dies were made for Nepal again in 1914,” though no specimen coins were documented at the time. Rhodes later solved this mystery when a Heaton’s presentation case was auctioned in December 1993, containing 20 tin uniface impressions from dies for Asian countries. The case included an impression of Chandra Shamsher’s medal and mohar dies bearing the same 1914 date (Rhodes, “The Birmingham Mint and Coinage for Nepal,” Spink’s Numismatic Circular, June 1994, p. 213).
Nicholas Rhodes is remembered by those who knew him as a generous collector who was always willing to share his time, resources, and knowledge with others. In the same spirit of scholarly generosity that defined his collecting, Spink is now delighted to bring this extraordinary collection to market, ensuring that his expertise will continue to engage both new and old collectors alike.
The Collection of Nepal Coins and Medals Property of the Late Nicholas Rhodes: Part One, is to be offered for sale in London on 9th October 2025. For further details please contact Georgie Potter, [email protected]