Burma (Myanmar) 1 Pya 1952 to 1965

We are grateful that Terri decided to send us a picture of her 'dragon lion' coin. When first researching Terri's request, we figured her 'dragon lion' was really the mythical creature called a griffin. Now we know, however, that it is a Chinze lion, or Chinese guardian lion, also a mythical creature.

These coins come from Burma, now known as Myanmar, located in Southeast Asia east of India and west of Thailand, in the same general area as Bangladesh. Burma was part of the British Commonwealth until 1948, and the name was changed to Myanmar in 1989.

Reading Burmese script is difficult for Westerners. The modern (post 1948) coins use Burmese numerals and a Western calendar. The date of our pictured coin is easily determined to be 1955. But prior coinage used Chula Sakarat (CS) or Burmese Era (BE) calendar and dating coins becomes more of a challenge.

Even though these coins are very exotic and very cool, there are more than enough to go around and fulfill collector demand. Catalog values for all dates of the 1 pya coin run like this:

worn: less than $1 US dollar approximate catalog value
average circulated: less than $1
well preserved: $1
fully uncirculated: $4
cqLastNotify