A professor with a penchant for collecting antique coins, currency

Aparna Banerji 

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 24 

At the humble home of a nondescript political science professor in Jalandhar lies a rare treasure of antique coinage, currency, rare magazines and newspapers which he has been painstakingly collecting ever since he was a kid.

Rajiv Kumar Sharma, assistant professor in political science at AS College, Khanna, has been collecting coins for the past 17 years. 

He has chased beggars by river banks, traversed ancient bazars and lanes in cities and contacted collectors for years in pursuit of rare currency and coinage. Collecting coins is almost like a second job which he follows owing to his passion and love for antiquities. Even on holidays, he often foregoes sightseeing to go digging coinage antiquities from markets. 

While his father Mast Ram was also interested in numismatics, in terms of better knowledge of the subject, he considers Dr Rajendra Sharma, a professor, as his guru.

“Dr Rajendra Sharma is the head of the political science department, Doaba College, Jalandhar. I found the real value and inspiration of collecting coins from him. I used to visit his home and found rare objects. My curiosity was profoundly raised. I realised that I had a passion for antique coins since then,” he said.

Rajiv Sharma managed to lay his hands on his first coin at his home in Phagwara at the age of 10, when he talked a beggar into handing him rare coins. 

“Till that time, I never had a collection of my own. But conversing with a beggar, I got to know that he had some rare coinage. Although at that age I didn’t know its true value, I, however, got to know it was something very important. So I kept coaxing him until he relented,” he laughs.

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The 42-year-old Sharma today has a collection of over 500 old coins, which included rare treasures with Hindu iconography, from as early as the fifth and sixth centuries, to a rare collection of coins and currency notes from the East India Company spanning between 1717 and 1911. He, of course, also has some important coinage from the 20th century as well. 

Interestingly, while his maiden attempt at finding coins was not the only one where he had help from a beggar, he said usually, beggars have been a key on many rare and precious coins in the collection, which he has been able to find. At times, he has had to go after them for days to find a lead.

Sharma in fact found the rarest treasures in his collection – two fifth and sixth century coins – with Ram Lakshman and Shiva icons from beggars on the banks of the river Godavari at Nasik when an excursion for his family turned into a treasure hunt for him. 

“On a visit to Nasik, the family went for a trip to the banks of the Godavari. While they enjoyed themselves, I caught up with a group of beggars who claimed that they had fine coins. While many times I have also been duped or lied to, in any case it seemed worth a try. The beggar promised to bring it to me on the riverbanks so I waited for him and finally I had coins with very fine and rare iconography with me. Even in many other cities, beggars often have some or other old coins stashed with their belongings for which they are usually willing to bargain for,” he said.

Whenever Sharma’s family goes for a trip anywhere, one of the top complaints is that he is always roaming old markets. His wife says, “Be it Amritsar or Nasik or Gujarat, he is always going to old markers or talking to beggars to lay his hands on a valuable coin. He also collects a lot of old newspapers or important international magazine editions wherever he finds them.” 

He has both old and new currency from Poland, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, among other countries. At one time, he kept following a collector for a coin for two years until he relented. 

While he recently shifted to his new home and has spent much of his life in rented accommodations, he said, “There 

were times when, while living in rented homes, we kept our clothes elsewhere, but made a special place for the coins in almirhas and suitcases because these are the most prized and precious possessions. They are especially valuable for the time and energy I have given to this vocation. I am on the lookout for many more coins and especially governor seals. The happiest part at the end of the day is that I have a treasure ranging centuries and generations which have fallen in my lap. Since I teach political science, I treasure these for their historical and political value and plan to teach posterity about its importance.”

Coin collections 

• Among his fifth and sixth century coins with Hindu iconography are Ram Darbar coins  with Ram and Laxman icons with the inscription ‘Ram Laxman Jaanak’ on their on one side and a darbar with two figures seated under an ornate umbrella flaked by three figures on the other. Another coin has Shiva inconography and a cow with the inscription ‘Bharat Gochar’ on the one side and a seated Shiva icon on the other 
• A coin from the Maharaja Ranjit Singh period with the seated Maharaja’s icon on one side and Guru Nanak and Mardana’s icons on The other 
• A circa 1717 one rupee coin of the East India Company with the ‘Sach Bolo Pura Tolo’ inscription with an icon of Hanuman. Another with an inscription Ram Bhagat Hanuman circa 1911
• A one quarter anna circa 1894 coin with the Queen of England’s profile on it 
• A currency note for Rs 10 with King George’s icon on it
• Coins with Stalin inscriptions before the collapse of the Soviet Union 
• He has a versatile collection of East India Company coins ranging from 1800s until 1911 
• Also possesses a rare Rs 2 anna eight currency note

Among the collections of his magazines are

Time Magazine editions with listed covers:  

Vietnam Flashback (1995), Khrushchev – Cold War (1959), Soviet Union Collapse (1991), Hitler Special, Gulf War (February 1991), Indo-Pak War (January 1972), Indo-Chinese War (1962) and The Bloody Birth of Bangladesh (1971).