I purchased a single Tibetan banknote, way back in the day, when I first started collecting paper money. At the time, I did not have a catalog which indexed Tibetan paper money. I didn’t really know what the banknote was or how much it was worth. Its was in really rough shape, but it was ornate and very unique. Since that time I have purchased a more recent version of the Standard Catalog of World Paper money, and Tibet has its own listings. Among them is p9, a 10 Srang banknote from 1941. This banknote features two stylized lions at center on its face side, and dragons and lions on the back. These notes were made by pasting together three sheets, the middle one having a two line security legend printed on it. I spent nearly $40 on this banknote, which is above catalog value, but I believe that these banknotes are actually quite scarce and few are in this good of a condition. The only question I have is whether the two holes punched in this banknote were actually used to tie bundles of money together. I have seen these two holes on other banknotes from Tibet on eBay, so I have a suspicion that these were made during the days of circulation by a bank or another such authority. Does anyone know anything about this?

Tibet p9: 10 Strang from 1941