ANANTAPUR: Vaddlapalle Vishnumurthy, a police constable attached to Yadki police station, has been cultivating the hobby of numismatics for the past two decades. He has a rich numismatic collection, including coins of many countries and those belonging to 155 ancient kingdoms. Some of the coins date back to Before Christ and his collection includes coins belonging to the Mauryas, Satavahanas, Guptas, Cholas, Pallavas, Chalukyas, Vishnukundins, Mughals, Golconda Nawabs, Tipu Sultan, Mysore Kings and other dynasties.
For his rich contribution to numismatics, he has been honoured with the International Icon 2022 Award by the International Hobbyist Organisation of Uttar Pradesh. Vishnumurthy is said to have the third-largest coin collection in the country. The first one is Girish Sharma from Maharashtra, who has been collecting coins for the past five decades, while the second numismatist is Krishnamurty from Gujarat.
A native of Tadipatri, he developed interest in collecting rare coins from his childhood. He spends 70% of his earnings on cultivating his hobby. Fortunately, he said his family members, including his wife Aruna, daughter Haripriya and brother Narasimha, support and encourage him in cultivating his hobby. “When I first saw the British Indian coin with the King George V image on it, I was thrilled and decided to pursue numismatics as a hobby,” he told TNIE.
Cop wants to see coins depicting AP’s heritage
“Initially, I collected coins from different countries. Every month, I used to spread the world map before me, select a country and start making efforts to collect coins belonging to it,” he said.
Though there are only 193 member countries in the United Nations, Vishnumurthy’s numismatic collection includes coins from non-member countries and some island nations. He said the coin exchange counter in Puttaparthi has helped him a lot in increasing his numismatic collection. For the last five years, he has been striving to collect ancient coins belonging to different Indian dynasties.
“I see coins as symbols of heritage and culture. The coin might have been made of a low grade metal, but its antique and heritage value is immense. For example, coins belonging to Sebaka kings, who ruled Anantapur region in 30 BC, were made of pewter, whose value for common people is nothing. But for numismatists, given their antiquity and historical significance, the value of coins is immense,” he explained.
The cop said his ambition is to see coins minted bearing the images of Tirumala temple, Telugu icons like Potti Sriramulu and Alluri Seetharama Raju, just as coins with the images of Vaishnodevi and Puri Jagannath. He organises numismatic exhibitions regularly to educate students and people on the rich culture and heritage of the country.