Watch List notes:

BHUTAN:LOT of 24 deb rupees, including 11 silver and 4 billon deb rupees of the 18th to the 20th century, also KM-10 (2 pcs), KM-19 (3 pcs), and KM-19a (4 pcs); average VF-EF condition, an excellent group with the consignor's partial identifications; retail value $600, lot of 24 pieces. Capt. R.B. Pemberton, who went to Bhutan on behalf of the East India Company in 1837-38 mentioned that the Bhutanese coins in circulation were called the "deb rupee" and that the standard of purity of the metal was dependent on the personal honesty of the official who struck it; "so great a variety is found in the standard value of the coin that it is altogether rejected by the inhabitants of the plains" he wrote. He also says that the Bhutanese used to take silver coins from the plains, melt them down, debase the alloy, and then strike their own coins, indicating that the deb rupee must have circulated at very much in excess of the metal value.

Estimate: 240-350 USD