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Pitt Rivers Museum

1993.41.1.5

Banknote, 45 kyats, printed in mainly blue with a portrait of Po Hla Gyi to the right. [MJD 08/04/2010]


1993.41.1.5

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Collection type
Object
Description
Banknote, 45 kyats, printed in mainly blue with a portrait of Po Hla Gyi to the right. [MJD 08/04/2010]
Long description
Banknote, 45 kyats, printed in mainly blue with a portrait of Po Hla Gyi to the right. The note has a watermarked face on the left. The note has words in Burmese script. The background of the note is a decorative pattern in orange, blue and green. The reverse of the note has an image of two male figures; one dressed in a divers helmet. There is also an image of tall metal towers [oil rigs?]. The number of the note, BV7733711, is written in English and Burmese, both printed in red ink. Issued by the Union of Burma Bank. [MJD 08/04/2010]
Cultural groups
Burmese
Person
Field collector Simon Philip Adrian Gill
PRM source Simon Philip Adrian Gill
Date / Period
Date made: Circa 1993
Date collected
1993
Acquisition information
Donated: 09/1993
Materials and processes
Material Paper Plant, Material Ink, Process Printed
Dimensions
Length x Width: max 158 x 76 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1993.41.1.5
Research and responses

There are in fact 3 types of Burmese 1 kyat note in current use - these two and a blue one. .3 is a 5 kyat note, .4 a 10 kyat note, .5 a 45 kyat note, and .6 a 90 kyat note. The only current value note not represented is a 200 kyat note. Inflation is such that coins are very rarely in use now.

The official exchange rate is presently 9 kyat to the £, and 6 to the US$, although black market rates are significantly greater, with 100-150 to both £ and $.

There used to be 50 and 100 kyat notes, but Ne Win negated these overnight, on the advice of his astrologer, some few years ago. He replaced them with the 45 and 90 kyat notes, which, as mulitples of 9, are more in harmony with Burmese cosmological views. [SD]

Search terms: Currency, Religion, Banknote