2018-02-16 Fri

51-year-old Mitresh Singh from Dubai has a collection of 2000 Indian coins from various time periods, dynasties, and empires from 600BC to the present date. He stated that he has learned about economic, political, social, religious and cultural aspects of India through his hobby. He also believes that coins talk about history, archaeology, sculptures, anthropology, sociology, religion, weapons of war etc.

Singh started collecting coins at the age of seven. He started by borrowing foreign coins form a British couple during his family trip to Shimla. The first coin he got was a gold-coloured nickel-brass three penny coin. From that point, he got attracted to varieties, shapes, patterns and textures of coins. He also explored the historical stories behind them. He got fascinated by Indian coins during his schools years and started taking his hobby more seriously in his late 30s.

His collection consists of coins that were issued by “Janapadas” in 600BC, the Mauryan Empire in 300BC, Indo-Greek coins after Alexander’s invasion of India in 326BC. He also has a series of Punch Mark Coins (PMC), gold coins from Gupta Empire, and the gold coins from the Mughal Empire. Singh builds his collection by participating in international and national public auctions, online live auctions, and through social media channels.

Image courtesy Gulf News