His passion for collecting coins has made him the proud owner of rare coins. Deepak Kumar Biswas, an engineer, has turned his childhood passion for coins into a full-time hobby.

After taking voluntary retirement from Mecon, Biswas now spends most of his time reading about coins, buying and exchanging them from friends and relatives.

His hobby dates back to his schooldays. The first time he remembers being awed by the old coins was when he had a glimpse of it in his mother?s small container.

His interest developed and grew gradually. He did not have problem in to get his hobby start rolling as most of his relatives abroad helped him, so did others who had made trips abroad.

?Initially, I just kept increasing the coins count and so I had no particular theme which is necessary in numismatics. It is an art where being well-read and informed is important. Discussions with other collectors would also benefit,? said Biswas.

He has more than 40 albums of coins that have been deciphered while the ones he failed to decipher have been kept aside. Besides, he has trunk full of coins that are repetitions. He has kept some of the rare and priceless ones in his locker. Biswas has coins from more than 130 countries, including the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Jamaica, Germany, Hong Kong and erstwhile USSR. He had coins of USSR when the hammer and sickle was compulsory mark on the coin to when it gradually disappeared. He claims that he has over 7,000 coins, out of which, only 3,000 has been deciphered and ready for exhibition.

?When I find it difficult to decipher the coins, I go to Calcutta and consult Numismatics Society of Calcutta. I have been told me that I have coins that belonged to the period of Akbar. I have coins from the regime of Tipu Sultan and Nizam of Hyderabad,? added Biswas.

The avid coin collector has a wide range of coins from the Princely states of India such as Bhagalpur, Bikaner, Alwar, Jaipur, Tonk, Gwalior, Jaora, Ratnam, Dhar, Indore, Hyderabad, Junagarh, Cochin, Travancore, Mysore, Baroda and Jodhpur. He also has coins that were used during the British period.

?Coins before 1835 was not uniform in every province under the East India but later a single coin was used all over the country. Coins of 1840 when Victoria is seen without a crown on the coin to 1862 when she was crowned is a part of my collection,? Biswas said.

Among his collection of coins is the smallest coin of two and half penny and is the size of a small ?bindi? which costs about Rs 800.

In Ranchi there are hardly any serious collectors or coin sellers due to which the art has not developed properly. ?The source of coins are not only friends and relatives but also jewellery shops, coin sellers and the government mints. Many jewellery shops keep old coins which they sell but unless they have proper knowledge they demand outrageous price. Same is the condition of coin sellers who is very poorly informed here but in other places like MP, Rajasthan, Calcutta and the southern states, sellers do not have good knowledge about each and every coin but also have good collections and take reasonable price,? added Biswas.

Biswas also has a small collection of currencies of countries such as Egypt, Russia, the US and Singapore those that were used after the Partition.

With a hobby which demands a lot of time, Biswas is ready to devote as much energy and money.

Abhijeet Mukherjee