Coin collection is a good business venture

The 48-year-old proprietor of Mumbai-based Oswal Antiques, Girish Veera, has been collecting coins since his childhood. He started a textile business, but began building a coin collection when visiting different places in the country.

The first coin that Veera got was a Panchmar coin from the Maurya era. Steadily, he learnt about the coins and various languages — including Arabic and old Devnagari — embossed on the coins. Oswal Antiques launched its won website, www.oswalauctions.com, so that even a layman could catch up with numismatics. It will hold a coin auction during Coinex-2010 at Sonal Hall on Karve Road on Saturday at 6 pm. Veera spoke to DNA about numismatics and the auctions he has been organising over the years.

Please throw some light on numismatics and how popular is it in India.
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency that includes coins, tokens, paper money and related objects. Anyone can be a numismatist by collecting coins. The person who is interested in coin collection should know how to figure out whether it is genuinen or fake. The coin age goes back to 600 BC from the Mauryan era. Hence, numismatics is not new in India. But a layman cannot identify the genuineness of a coin easily as it requires some expertise. At present, the hobby of coin and currency collection steadily is becoming a good business venture in India and many people have taken to coin collection.

How can a person trace the era of a coin?
If a person having coins knows ancient scripts and meaning of the figures encrypted on them, then the era of the coin can be traced. Actually, coins have been in use since ancient times. Hence, every coin has the name of the ruler or emperor along with the place of the mint encrypted on it.

We hear you own a gold coin named Gold Hon, used during Chhatrapati Shivaji’s coronation ceremony?
Yes, I have a Gold Hon from the Shivaji era and it is the most valuable coin in my collection. I bought it from a shop near Salem, in Tamil Nadu. I came across that coin and due to my knowledge, I realised it was from the Maratha era. Later, I fond some references in Bakhar (anals) that during the coronation, Shivaji Maharaj was weighed with gold and gold coins.

How many and what type of coins are you putting up for auction?
For Saturday’s auction, over 700 coins classified in 244 categories will go under the hammer. We are aiming at over 80% business, though I cannot reveal the turnover in monetary terms. We have conducted 17 auctions across India. We started auctioning coins in Pune in 2007. The next auction will be held in Mumbai. Coin auctions are gaining popularity in India with media exposure on numismatics. Also,  many coin collectors are
looking at it from a business point of view to seek good returns. Even after the auction, the winner keeps the coin in his personal collection, to be sold after some time at a higher price.