2017-02-21 Tue

Justin Gilbert Lopez from Poovar holds a Guinness world record for building the largest coin collection. An exhibition was held by the District Tourism Promotion Council at Kanakakkunnu Palace featuring 2,500 coins from Mr. Lopez’s vast collection. Special themes at the exhibition included flowers, animals, sea transport, palm tree, and horsemen. The oldest coin in the collection was the one depicting Alexander the Great.

Some of the highlights of his collection of almost 25,000 coins include: Coin of Kurdistan, a nation with a disputed existence; one issued by Subhas Chandra Bose’s parallel government; that depicting Lord Rama’s coronation from the 12th century; and a tiny gold coin belonging to the Vijayanagara empire; Double metal coins, those on important people, coloured coins; Coins featuring Princess Diana, Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth II, guitar coins from Somalia; Coins featuring Hindu gods, Jesus and Christian saints, and coins and tokens depicting Islamic holy shrines and mosques; Travancore coins, other Princely States coins, 1 paisa coins onwards, coins dedicated to important personalities, a freedom fighter special a Gandhi coin section, koris, falus, and dokdo of yore, Coins issued by the Dutch, the Portuguese, and the East India Company.

Mr. Lopez had to wait for 3 years to find a Kyrgyzstan coin before he could get his Guinness record in 2008. He started collecting kaash and chakram coins from an early age. Then he worked at a Greek marine firm in Sharjah where he built his collection. He travelled to other countries while working for the firm and collected coins from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria. His first exhibition was in the year 2003 after which he kept exhibiting.

He wants to display his collection in every district of the State and is also seeking a permanent venue to showcase his collection. The exhibition ended on Wednesday.