The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Yen, won, dollar, dinar... you name it, he has it

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 26, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Yen, won, dollar, dinar... you name it, he has it

T. Lalith Singh

The pride possession includes Indian currency minted in 1835

CASH CRAZY: M. Kesava Rao displaying his collection. Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Crazy about currency? Japanese yen, Korean won, American dollar, Kuwaiti dinar, Indian rupee, British pound, Deccani `ashrafi' or `mohar.'

Talk of any currency that is or was in circulation, Kesava Rao presents it in a jiffy. And understandably, he does it with a flourish. Having lived more than three decades with the hobby, 42-year-old Mr. Rao boasts of a collection that has currency specimen from across the globe. He has glittering gold `ashrafis' and copper coins from the times of Sikander Jah to Mir Osman Ali.

Hailing from Tenali, Mr. Rao quit his job with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research after being bit by the currency bug. "Since 1974, currency collection has been a mission for me," he says.

The coffers of the soft-spoken collector are full of not only machine-minted coins but also hand-made ones and of all denominations.

One of his prize possessions is first Indian currency minted in 1835. "Only 1,000 William II `mohar' of do aana denomination were minted then and I have several of them," he reveals. Another possession that he takes pride in is the very rare Rs. 2.50 note, which if put for sale, could easily fetch him a few crores!

Comprehensive collection

The collection that he unveils at his small office at Abids is truly exhaustive and admirable and includes the coinage from British rulers apart from the ones used as a legal tender during the rule of the erstwhile kingdoms.

What more. He doesn't hide his fancy for fancy numbers on the currency which includes Indian rupee notes that has the serials such as `111111,' `222222,' `333333' and so on. "This kind of number is repeated once in 10 lakh notes," he boasts. Even commemorative currency fails to escape Mr. Rao's attention and he has sets of each one that was released in the country from 1964. What's the heaviest of his collection?

An Australian mint of an odd denomination of 30 dollars in silver. And it weighs a clean one kg!

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