½ Pya - Bodawpaya

Bodawpaya seized the Burmese throne in 1782 after executing his nephews and consolidating power following the collapse of the Konbaung dynasty's earlier line. This piece is among the earliest coinage attributable to his reign, issued as he was simultaneously relocating the royal capital to Amarapura and launching the annexation of Arakan in 1784 — a campaign that would eventually drive tens of thousands of refugees into British-controlled Bengal and plant the seeds of a border conflict that outlasted the dynasty itself.