Chennai: Numismatist and philatelist C Gopikrishnan has a rare collection of around 7,000 coins.
The engineer residing in Lakshmi Avenue in Indra Nagar at Selaiyur in the suburb has been collecting coins for the past 20 years and have been exhibiting them free of cost in educational institutions.
In an interview with this paper, he said, “Even as a child, I was very interested in history. My parents used to take me along to several temples and I used to be fascinated about the inscriptions in them. There is no better way to know about our history than coins. Each one has a story to tell and all of them are interesting. This is not just a hobby for me, but I am doing this to get more enlightened. My first exhibition was held in the company I worked, at Mysore in 2004.”
He possesses a variety of coins ranging from the 8th century till date.
“Apart from Indian coins, I also have 120 foreign country coins and 150 currencies,” he added.
He further added that there is a huge craze of error coins and limited edition ones, and pointed out that the more traditional a coin is, the more valuable it is.
So how does he collect these?
“I always update myself about new releases. My friends and relatives are also helpful. Whenever they find a unique coin or currency, they immediately let me know. I also order peculiar coins from the RBI by prebooking methods. We also trade coins during exhibitions with fellow coin collectors,” he said.
He now wants students to know the importance of coins and currencies, in this digital transaction age, it is learnt.
“This is why I started holding exhibitions in schools. Another benefit is that they keep asking me questions which makes me learn more about this field,” he said.
Gopikrishnan is also the president of Green Voice International, which creates awareness about nature and the ill-effects of using plastics, it may be noted.
He can be reached at 9786662033.