2017-12-28 Thu

Kandula Venkatesh from East Godavari, who has been pursuing his hobby of coin collecting for the last 30 years, showcased his collection of more than 1800 ancient Telugu coins at the World Telugu Conference recently.

Venkatesh was inspired by his grandfather who collected ancient coins for over 40 years. He decided to collect Telugu related coins, stamps, and notes so that youngsters become aware of our rich history. He is an Engineering Manager at Deccan Fine Chemicals and has travelled throughout the country to collect coins related to Telugu Kings, Kingdoms and people.

The oldest coin in his collection is the one belonging to ‘Asmaka Janapadam’ struck in 600 BC. Other coins include ‘Gobadha’, ‘Narana’, ‘Sirakama’, ‘Sirivaya’, ‘Samagopa’, ‘Narayana’, ‘Nizam coins’ and more. He also has a collection of stamps related to Telugu people.

At the conference, he also officially got a chance to exhibit his collection at the WTC summit at Ravindra Bharathi. Visitors asked their queries about these coins and also appreciated his effort. He also said that a lot of money has to be spent to save these coins and keep them in real shape. Venkatesh has plans to release a book on Telugu coins soon.