In this new era of e - mail, ipods, DVDs and other electronic gadgets of entertainment, the hobby of collecting stamps and currency is still alive in late M. V. Lakshminarayana's residence “Aparoopa” at Agrahara in Mysore city.

Lakshminarayana, an employee of State Bank of Mysore (SBM) in city, was in the habit of collecting postage stamps, greeting cards, ancient coins, currency notes, war medals, antique pieces, first day covers and commemoration stamps, photography.

Over a period of 40 years, he has collected more than 15,000 stamps, coins and currency notes of about 150 countries and more than 350 war medals. He has exhibited his collections in more than 90 towns in Karnataka.

After Lakshminarayana’s demise in 2005, his wife Shantha Lakshminarayana is looking after this Museum Aparoopa. Our correspondent had a tête – à - tête with Shantha.

Excerpts:
"My husband first began his collection in 1954. Initially it was only stamps, but later in 1963, when he got a job in the Bank, he took to collecting currency notes and with the help of his pen-friends in different countries, he started collecting currency notes of all countries," says Shantha.

"During the course of his job, when he had an opportunity to work at the Foreign Exchange Department, he befriended foreigners who visited the Bank to encash their Traveller’s Cheques into Indian currency. He bought currencies of their countries by paying them their equivalent in Indian rupees. In this way, he collected both currency notes and coins of nearly 150 countries."

"Lakshminarayana also started collecting rare Indian currency notes bearing unusual serial numbers. At first he started collecting currency notes of denominations of Re.1, Rs.2, Rs.5 and Rs.10, bearing serial numbers 111111 to 999999. He used to wait for fresh currency notes that were being regularly sent to his Bank by the RBI from its Press (Cash Remittance). Whenever currencies with unique features were received, he immediately exchanged them with ordinary currency. It took nearly 10 years for him to collect notes bearing serial numbers in the above denominations and only nine such notes can be collected from 1,000,000 pieces of the same series," says Shantha.

"Then his hunt began for notes bearing serial numbers 123456 and 654321 (ascending and descending order). Since our currency notes start with the serial number 0000001 and end with 1,000,000, notes with the above numbers appear only once in a bundle of 1,000,000 pieces.

"He has also collected the special link numbers notes between 6 and 9, that is, 666999 and 999666 which is found in only two notes out of 1,000,000. The uniqueness of this particular set of series is it reads the same number even while holding the note upside down.

Interestingly, the only currency note bearing 7 digits is also in Lakshminarayana’s collection. [All notes contain 6 digits, except for the last note in the series numbered 1,000,000 which has 7 digits]. The biggest currency note is that of Russia which is 12 inches x 6 inches, having a face - value of 100 Roubles. Another currency note, a replica of currency No. JE 58 / 41700 of Rs.100 denomination, issued by the Government of India in Feb. 21, 1925, has inscriptions in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil languages.

Since our country became independent, currencies of Rs.5, 10 and 100 have undergone several changes both in size and format. A 50 Rupee note, without national flag on the mast of the Parliament building, is also in his collection.

Some of the other unique currencies in his collection are, the One Pound note of Bank of England bearing the signature of the Head Cashier; a one - cent currency note of Hong Kong, considered to be the currency having the lowest value in denomination ever to be issued till date, carries the portrait of Queen Elizabeth on one side, while it is completely blank on the obverse, creating curiosity among viewers.

It is said that during the Second World War, Lieutenants of the Japanese army had a press to print currencies of countries they had defeated in the war, without any number or signature on them. Even such currencies are in his collection with face values Rs. 5, 10 and 100.

Cheque issued for largest sum: He also has in his collection a copy of the cheque bearing No. 248201 dated 18.2.1971 issued to the Reserve Bank of India, New Delhi, by the US Embassy, payable to “The Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Minister of Finance, New Delhi” for Rs.16 billion, 640 million, considered to be the largest amount ever issued in the banking history.

Ancient coins:
Among the ancient coins were forceps-shaped silver coin (Larin) minted in 1077 by Ali Adil Shah II of Bijapur and gold coins of Kanishka period. A coin released by the Ontario Government to commemorate the role of mining in the development of Canada issued in 1967 is an alloy of gold, nickel, zinc, platinum, silver, copper and iron.
Others in the collection include silver coins of East India Company minted in 1768 AD at Murshidabad, West Bengal, coins of Arcot Nawabs with Walajah as their capital minted perhaps in Tiruchi and gold and silver coins of Tipu Sultan. Silver pagodas of Madras Coinage minted in 1870 - 1808 had the figure of Lord Venkateshwara on one side with value in Tamil and Telugu and on the obverse a Gopuram with value written in English and Persian characters.

Coins of Vijayanagar rulers carried the images of horse, elephants and peacock, garuda and gandaberunda. Many of the war medals were in copper and silver issued in 1895 during Queen Victoria’s regime.

The Millennium series issued by USA from 1900 to 1990s, gold stamps and hologram stamps also issued by USA, have been displayed here mounted inside frames along with brief details of their fascinating history written beneath, so that the visitor can get to know their story.

Some of the notable ones in the collection include, pre - and post - Independence era gold, silver and copper coins of India, ancient coins of Mughal, Gupta periods, Zodiac coins of Muslim rulers, coins with Kannada numerals issued by Chikka Devaraja Wadiyar of Mysore, gold coins of Vijayanagar empire, Commemorative coins till date and several others.

Replica of coins from 600 BC and minted during the time of Kanishka, Harshavardan and Chola Kings are also kept on display here. The half - dollar proof coin released in 1986 to commemorate the reinstallation of the Statue of Liberty in the US, Indian coins issued in 1835 depicting King William IV and the Olympic commemorative coins since 1964 are also on display here.

Collection of stamps:
Lakshminarayana was not only an avid numismatist but also a philatelist. He had collected stamps of all series and forms. Starting from the first postage stamp till date, the museum is updating stamps regularly.

The world’s first postage stamp issued in England called “Penny Black” in 6. 5. 1840 depicting the head of young Queen Victoria can be seen here. Also are world’s first stamp made of wood, issued in Switzerland in 2004; a gold coated stamp of Mohammed Ali Jinnah of Pakistan, stamps issued during First World War; stamps from Germany valued at millions of Deutschemarks and stamps used as the money in Bengal.

Olympic stamps issued from Rome 1960 to Athens 2004; Asian Games stamps and those issued on specific themes and subjects like World Cup Football, Tennis, Cricket; movie heroes, trains, cars, rockets, aero planes, animals, insects, birds, Presidents, seven wonders of the world; Walt Disney stamps, cartoon characters, freedom fighters of India; specially designed 3D stamps and picture stamps are some of the other displays.

Others include steel foil stamps, silk stamps, cloth paintings, gold coin stamps, plastic embossed stamps, stamps which depict the National Anthem, Olympic Miniature stamps etc. The collection also includes Stamp Papers issued during the rule of the Maharajas of Mysore, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Gandhi as a subject, silk, plastic and sports stamps, Disney and commemorative stamps depicting Walt Disney characters will delight children while the stamps depicting animals, birds, and flowers, transport vehicles on land, locomotives, ships and balloons and even spacecraft have been displayed accordingly.

There is also another series of stamps bearing portraits of freedom fighters, Presidents and Governor Generals of India. Also First Day Covers which include Minicoy lighthouse, International Year of the Child, Centenary postcards, Premchand, Dyanchand, S. Radhakrishnan, Abraham Lincoln, Moulana Azad and Ranjit Singh are on display.

Stamps on the life of Jesus Christ issued by New Zealand, Hungary, Italy, Rumania, Magyar and famous bronzes stamps from Napoli. The three commemorative stamps on Indira Gandhi can also be seen.

The habit of collecting currencies and stamps was a pleasure for Lakshminarayana, according to his wife. If you visit this museum once, you will be astonished and spellbound at the vast array of collections. The visitors can learn not only about the art of philately but also about various cultures and major events of the world. As these items are classified based on the era and type, the visitors can easily understand history.

K. Rathna
Courtesy: Star of Mysore