RARE SIKH COINS Öffentlichkeit Deposited
COLLECTOR VS MUSEUM
The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 40, October 3, 2004, Article 20
RARE SIKH COINS: COLLECTOR VS MUSEUM
Raising the age-old question of whether rare coins (or any
artifacts) are better off in museums or private hands, this recent
article from India describes a collection of Sikh coins:"The first Sikh coin came into existence with the founding of a
Sikh kingdom by Banda Bahadur, a few years after the last
Sikh Guru Gobind Singh's passed away.Historians say that though all the rulers brought in their new
coins as soon as they assumed power, the common factor in
each of them is that all the kings released coins in honour of
Sikh gurus.""Researcher and numismatist Surinder Singh, who based his
work on empirical evidence, while citing several nuances in
the design of the coins to reigns of the kings during the period,
said that while most of the coins were shifted off by the British
to Bombay and Calcutta, some however remain in the
possession of collectors.""When the British occupied the Punjab, the Sikh coin was of
pure silver and the British coin was 95 per cent silver. Where
the British rupee was sold of 16 annas in the market, the Sikh
coin was sold of 17 annas. The Britishers shifted almost 10 to
20 crores of Sikh coins to Bombay and Calcutta and converted
them into British rupees", said Surinder Singh.Some of these coins are in the hands of a collector. Numismatist
Narinder Katwar of Mohali who has some 200 rare coins,
related to Sikh history, has refused to hand them over to the
museum. He says it is his life's passion, which he will always
guard zealously.""... I personally feel that besides giving my collection to any
museum, I can preserve them better. And as its my personal
collection I want to keep it with me only".The Central Sikh Museum in the precincts of the Golden
Temple in Amritsar, is home to a large number of the ancient
Sikh coins, providing a rare glimpse of the rich Sikh culture to
the people."To read the full story, see: Full Story
- 2004-10-03
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