Hobby of Kings

Part I

Introduction
Coin collection or Numismatics is also called as the Hobby of Kings

The word '' Coin '' derived from Latin word '' Cuneus '' which means wedge, Encyclopedia Britannica defines coin as " a piece of metal or, rarely, some other material (such as leather or porcelain) certified by a mark or marks upon it as being of a specific intrinsic or exchange value." & the Oxford English dictionary defines as '' Stamped disc of metal as official money ‘‘.


Coin Collector in Me

I am an amateur coin collector. My main focus of collection is ancient India coins (pre 1200AD) and Medieval India (Princely States coins) and British India coins. This collection is augmented by modern coins from some169 countries.

Coin collection hobby was passed down to brother and me by my dad and mom. Dad had a huge collection of stamps and some amount of coins, while mom had coins of contemporary countries. Mom had opportunity to travel to Egypt when she was young. That’s when she along with my uncle started collecting coins. When did dad's stamp collection hobby started, I have no idea.

Luckily, my brother and I, we both took to hobbies eagerly. By saying that, I mean we by passed the coin collectors curse, "If one is a coin collector, his immediate children’s are never coin collectors". It was ably helped by ardent sibling rivalry. We used to have really competition about number of stamps, coins and currency notes each one has. Now we have grown out of that rivalry and become much more helpful to each other, especially when it comes to computers and increasing each others collections.

My brother, Mihir, is more into stamp collection. His collection was vastly increased when my uncle gave his stamp collection (1500+ stamps) to my brother alone. My dad, because of his foreign assignments, was able to get us coins of number of current world countries. He has visited almost all continents and got us coins and stamps from all over the world.


Brief History of Coin
In ancient times, before invention of coins, the first means of acquiring the necessities of life was by means of barter, exchanging items such as cattle, agricultural produce and skins or furs. Then with the knowledge of metals and an appreciation of gold and silver came the idea of simplifying the process. The obvious choices were metals as they had the advantage of being portable and the demand for them was constant.

The ancients adopted metals as a circulating media and assigned a monetary value to ingots of gold and silver. The purchase by Abraham of the cave of Machpelah for the sum of four hundred shekels of silver was transacted with bars or ingots. The shekal of the Bible stood for a unit of value of gold or silver. Gold or silver has since been the primary means of assessing the value of most items.

In the Rig Veda, the price of an image of Indra, which was being offered for sale, is said to be ten cows. In another passage, a sage is said to have refused to sell his image of Indra for a hundred, or a thousand, or even ten thousand cows. In a third passage, we are told that the Bharat army went out for war, impelled by the desire to acquire cows. Again, we find that Indra sent his messenger to recover his stolen treasure and treasure was nothing deals but cows. Similarly, in the Aitareya Brahmana, wealth is frequently estimated in terms of cows.

It was then; found that metal, which could not be destroyed easily and was handier, could be used as a stable medium of exchange. However, mere discovery of metal as a suitable medium could not serve the purpose. The problem was how to use metal. The medium was required to be uniform in weight and size to serve the purpose of exchange. Consequently, balance was invented, and with it raised the need for a standard weight. Seeds were considered a suitable medium, as they were fairly uniform in weight and size. Metal was weighed against seeds and various kinds of seeds were introduced as standard weights in different regions, according to their availability.

The first mention that is made of money in history is eminently striking; it was used for the purchase of a grave. There is no picture in all the past more profoundly sad than that of the old man buying a place to bury his dead wife out of his sight.


Some Coins that I own

1]


Indo-Scythian: Azes II AR tetradrachm. CHOICE!

Obverse King mounted on horse right, holding whip, Kharoshthi letter at right, Greek legend around: BASI?EOS BASI?EON MEGA?OY / AZOY
Reverse Pallas Athena standing right, holding shield and spear, monograms at left and right, Kharoshthi legend around: Maharajasa rajadirajasa mahatasa / Ayasa
Date c. 1st century BCE
Weight 9.29 gm.
Diameter 25 mm.
Die axis 6 o'clock
Reference MIG 848, Sen 98.323T


2]


AR 2 royalin (fanon) 1,49 gram
Obv.: Crown of the "Hindu" variety.
Rev.: Group of Fleur de Lis.
KM 44


3]


Gold Pagoda Vijaynagar
DEVARAYA 1
Gold coin
die axes 7
dia 11mm
Obv :- vishun and lashmi seated, vishnu holding conch and disus
Rev :- devanagari sir pra tap Deva -raya
Date :- 1406-22
weight:- 3.4 grams
Reference :- Michael Mitchiner, coin no450, page no 165, the coinage and history of southern india


4]


Rare silver 1/8th shatamana (shana) from Gandhara Janapada, ca.500-400 BC

Notes: Punchmark (6-armed Gandharan symbol with a dot between two of the arms) / marking on reverse extremely rare. 14mm, 1.5 grams. Rare. Rajgor 578.

Gandhara Janapada was one of the 16 Janapadas mentioned in the Buddhist chronicles. It was a subject of the Persian Empire during the reign of Darius in the late 6th century BC, and was the birthplace of the first indian coins.


5]



King Emperor Edward VII coinn
One Rupee India
1907 - Silver coin
Y-34 KM-508

The Rupee was minted in Calcutta. There is no mint mark for Calcutta.


I will mention all references, web sites, people who helped me in other post. This is only part I of the post.

Thanks
Goremaniac

Coins Ring - New Post