2019-10-14 Mon

Recently, a three-day philately and numismatic exhibition at TMA Pai Convention Centre which was organized by the Karnataka Postal Circle.

The main attraction of this exhibit was the 96 varieties of coins that were used during the period of the Western Ganga dynasty, which ruled Karnataka.

The elephant was the emblem of the Gangas, which has been reflected on the coins of that period. A lot of Kannada legends and words could be found on these coins.

One can observe the different designs on the ear of the elephant. The anklets, the chains around the neck, the tusks also varied. The tusks are also lined with different rows of rings and the tusks are thinner or thicker in some cases.

There is variance in the general design of the coin and no two coins are found to be minted in the same way. One can notice sun, moon, chakra, chamara, diyas etc. which are of various types.

The other attractions at the 12th State Level Philately Exhibition were the commemorative coins, Chinese gold panda coins, and stamps on 100 years of Indian cinema.

These were from the personal collections of M. Prashanth Shet of Mangaluru who had exhibited them for the first time. Mr. Shet collected them during the last two decades from different parts of the world.

Image Courtesy: The Hindu