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ANTIQUARY/ Coin collectors need to hone their knowledge to turn into currency antiquarians

Nothing reflects the social and cultural history of a country or civilisation more than its currency, and in that India has been luckier than most, being at the cross-roads of the changing fortunes of empires.

Invaders and settlers brought their own currencies into the country, while its several kingdoms had their own currencies in the form of coins that were variously made of gold, silver, copper, bronze, lead, even terracotta.

Notionally, numismatics should be a flourishing practice in the country. In reality, for all the coin collectors this country has, there is precious little serious interest in coin collecting, and despite the veritable treasure that has rich pickings for almost anyone bent on putting together a studied collection, few take the bait.

That's because coins, unlike objects of art, cannot be displayed prominently, and in India collectors and antiquarians tend to look for decorative value over thought-out concerns of preservation and documentation (or even investment) above all else.

If on the one hand the country is flush with coins from several regions, dynasties, generations and influences, it is this very easy availability that has created a vacuum where the challenge of rarity becomes akin to trivial pursuits.

Amateur collectors tend to get excitied about the plentiful Mughal coins, for example, that are part of most hoards to be found in antiquarian shops, but the really expensive treasures are harder to spot.

In collector havens such as Hyderabad or Lucknow or Kolkata, Mumbai and Rajasthan, the gold and silver coins have suffered from the conservative practice of earlier generations known for their practicality who tended to melt gold and silver coins for their value.

Therefore, the highest and rarest forms of currency are now in the hands of a few collectors (or to be found lying ignored in crumbling homes). Copper, bronze and other metal imprints are not only plentiful, they're also easily faked (though the genuine antiquarian can easily tell them apart).

Often, coins are ruined by having little hooks welded into them to use as jewellery, which considerably lessens their value.

The coin was often the symbol of Empire. Therefore, dominions that may have been independent of, say, the Mauryan kings, but acknowledged its sovereignty, were not allowed to cast their own currency.

Gupta coins, therefore, would be in circulation in the extended flanks of the kingdoms surrounding the empire. Even so, the multiplicity of kingdoms over different periods meant there were a great variety of coins always in circulation (this, when barter continued to be a form of trade well into the British Raj).

Hindu kings often had coins cast with their images, or those of their ancestors, which fewer Muslims did through the eight hundred years of their rule in the country, favouring a graphic image, the seal of the kingdom or calligraphy as a rule.

Images of Hindu gods that, on the face of it, should have been plentiful, are altogether rarer. Even under British rule, a common currency was not practised with independent rulers suing for their own currency.

It is this bewildering variety, therefore, that makes antique coin collecting in India such a fruitful experience. But it requires knowledge more than just diligence, since there are few numismatists who can speak with as much authority on, for example, Kushan coins as also those that emerged from the Chola, Vijaynagar or other southern kingdoms.

Trading in coins without complete knowledge is therefore likely to be treacherous business. The collector is best advised to seek the assistance of as many hands on board as possible, tracking down experts spread across many cities, to gain as authentic knowledge as possible.

This is all the more important when exchanging or selling antique coins where the chances of chicanery are extremely high. Two coins that look identical to the novice collector's eye may have vastly different values because of small impairments in the minting that only the experienced eye can detect.

But it is also this constant search for more information that makes antique coin collecting one of the most satisfying pursuits in India.