Did you know?

No, I did not.

It was indeed an eye opener as I interacted with the President of the KNS, Mr. Mahesh Jambulingam. As an ex banker, I was in rapt attention. The aromas of the freshly brewed coffee served by Kripa seemed to have stirred the mine of information as Mahesh delved into the history, geography, political, economic, financial and cultural ethos of money and the captivating hobby of numismatics. I could discern his passion and the enthusiasm was infectious. Indeed KNS is poised to charter new courses in his two year tenure.

The invention of coins was a path breaking happening-- an event that had far reaching consequences in the political, economic and cultural ethos of the world. Apart from their historic importance they give an insight to the mythology, geography, symbols, folklore and sacramental practices of countries. The coins replaced the prevailing practice of value in cattle, grains and measures and weights.

Though we handle coins and notes daily we hardly look at them discerningly. A close scrutiny of the metal will take us into a fascinating world. Coins are indeed a living commentary of times gone by though records are available. In fact it is one of the important sources to reconstruct many aspects of a region’s history.

Mahesh says ‘In the first Karnataka Numismatics exhibition, dealers from all over India displayed their collection in spite of the existing Gold Control Act that entails not more than five gold coins in one’s possession even if one is a serious numismatist. The Exhibitions then were not much of a success. But today the quality of the exhibitions in Bangalore and II tier cities has vastly improved that dealers participate as good collections are exhibited. The popularity of our exhibitions today can be gauged by the presence of sixty dealers from across the country as in the recent one. This is a record as not more than 30 dealers attend exhibitions in the country” informs Mahesh. At this year’s exhibition 30 new members were enrolled.

KNS meets on the second Sunday of the month at their premises @ 1043, Diamond villa, 18th C Cross, 5th block, Rajajinagar Bangalore. Views are exchanged; talks and lectures are arranged to keep the members and dealers updated with the latest trends. A mini auction is conducted when members sell/buy from their collections. Workshops are held in schools and colleges in rural areas too, to Catch them Young and expose the children at an early age to this absorbing hobby. When was the last time that one handled a 25 or 10 paisa coin? Echoing my thoughts he adds “Today’s generation would not have seen a 2p/5p coins. But I find even in rural settings parents more interested in sending their wards for the special engineering and medical coaching classes. Consequently even those children with numismatics hobby are forced to shelve it with no hopes of ever reviving with the collection gifted to the sibling or friends”.

In the 60’s sacks of aluminum coins mostly from temple hundis were sold by weight to scrap dealers who melted them for making aluminum utensils. Once melted the coins are lost forever. Some orthodox people exchange the old coins in the family pooja rooms for a utility pooja item. Some houses that had gold pagodas/varahas (3.4 Gms in weight) were worshipped but in times of necessity these would be exchanged for money. Earlier the jewellers would melt but now they take a second look and preserve if need be.

The KMC in the past year has implemented the following iniatives with a resounding success.

Awareness for segregating unusual coins i.e., of numismatic value. Here Mahesh narrates an incident that happened in the late ‘70’s. A dealer from Goa would go around villages and visit goldsmiths/ silver/coppersmiths picking up coins before it were sold/ melted accordingly. Once at Nanjangud (18 kms from Mysore) he was waiting to board a bus going to Mysore at dusk and saw cattle returning home. He spotted a calf and persuaded the owner to sell it. The cowherd thought it was a joke, but sensing that the person was serious he quoted the princely sum of Rs 300/=. With the deal struck the dealer removed the black rope around the neck of the calf that had a Tippu double rupee valued at Rs.2000/= then. Pocketing the coin he returned the calf to the owner. But today KNS has created the awareness by talks, lectures and exhibitions to the extent that people have become avaricious as was demonstrated after the Toddywalla auction.

School children understand the heritage when they are residing in historical places through exhibitions. There are numismatists like Mr. Keshava Murthy, an officer in the Telephones who have conducted one hundred and ten exhibitions in mofussil towns as an awareness measure.

The time spent at malls, video parlours can be channelised fruitfully when exhibitions are held in colleges on week days (just the other day at St. Joseph’s P.U.College) in Bangalore city with tremendous response.

Spreading the message that apparently Numismatics seems an expensive hobby (in the last auction coins from the Aurangazeb period fetched fabulous sums) but is easy to start a collection by anyone. For instance one rupee notes that were aplenty a few years ago are scarce today. One may start with this.

Arranging for the new issues of coins, notes and commemorative coins in fresh mint condition from RBI for the members’ collection as also when the coins are in short supply.

To an avid numismatist every coin is special, at times only the collector understands the travails undergone to secure that one ordinary coin that is not worth much but completes the zig zag puzzle. Purchasing a coin for say half a lakh and thinking that it’s special because of its value holds no charm to the hard core collector.

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