Cheating The Tibetans.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 13, 1913:
Counterfeit Rupees Taken to Their Country by Chinese Soldiers.
    LONDON, July 1.— A letter from India received here gives details of a curious money-making scheme that the Mandarins of Sze-Chuen are working in Tibet. It appears that a large number of Chinese soldiers carrying counterfeit Indian rupees of a face value of 32c. that cost only 16c. apiece to manufacture are being sent to the land of the Lamas.
    The Indian rupee has long been recognized as money by the Tibetans. An inspiration seized the Governor of Sze-Chuen that rupees might be made at the Cheng-tu mint for 16c. and worked off on the innocent people of Tibet at their nominal value. Hence the Sze-Chuen troops are conveying great loads of Cheng-tu made rupees with them. The Governor mixes patriotism with thrift. While the coins are made to resemble genuine Indian rupees in size and general appearance, the presentment of a Chinaman under a Mandarin hat is substituted for the head of King George. Just who the Chinaman is has not yet been learned.