National coin exhibition a hit with Hyderabad participants

Hyderabad, May 20 (ANI): The third day of the annual three-day National Numismatic Exhibition 2012 held here, showcased over 700 artifacts, apart from coins and paper money, drawing appreciation from numismatists and public alike.

Archie Maru, the event organizer, informed that around 70-80 stalls had been set up to preserve the national coin heritage.

"The exhibition is organised because we want more people to come across this hobby and preserve our national heritage. Philatelic and numismatic deals with the monarchy system that what coins were used in earlier days, how rich we were, how many rulers were there who has ruled all parts of India and what all happened in history," Maru explained.

A large variety of coins issued by different independent kingdoms, princely states, sultanates, dynasties are part of the exhibition.

Maru said the hobby of collecting coins has assumed an unprecedented popularity among the youth.

"The craze of coins is going to the extreme level. In the last five years, we have been getting so may collectors from India, there are so many youth, so many youngsters at the age of 20's, 30's, everyone is collecting and even the children. There are so many schools we are working and telling them to promote this hobby," he informed.

Hanuman Sada, a numismatist at the exhibition, said he had started collecting coins as it was his hobby, and now he owned world's rarest coins.

"I am fond of collecting old coins, since childhood I used to take out coins from the Ganga in Varanasi. I have exhibited coins in Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and they have awarded me. I have a collection of thousands of year old coins, including Kushan, Chattrap, Maurya Sassanian, Guptas and all ancient coins," Sada said.

A wide range of Indian bank notes, tribal accessories, special stamps and coins, from times dating as far back as 600 BC were exhibited by 150 numismatists from across India.

The exhibition, in its third edition, was held from May 18-20, 2012. (ANI)