The latest coins on Rabindranath Tagore at the coin museum in Sakchi on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Ancient weapons, trinkets and paintings have caught the eye of Coin Collectors’ Club in Jamshedpur.

The club in Sakchi, which so far has been a numismatic delight, is planning set up a museum for the city to get history lessons across time and space. Members of the registered club will soon put forward a request for funds to the state government as well as a larger plot.

Upbeat about the venture, secretary and founder of the club Kalyan Guha said that some numismatic dealers had assured them of providing artefacts.

“Coin clubs in metro cities often have an adjunct museum as well. Our initiative is at a nascent stage, though we are serious about it,” he said.

Artefacts will include idols from ancient civilisations, weapons, metal items, sculptures, paintings, ornaments, among others. Coin club authorities, already experienced in the legal formalities of procuring rare coins, said that every shipment would be completely aboveboard.

“Once we finalise our museum plans, we will approach the state government for financial help,” added Guha.

The club at present has a rare collection of about 1,500 coins from different historical eras. The oldest of all is the bend bar punch coin from the time of emperor Asoka of the Maurya dynasty, circa 300 BC.

The latest coin, minted in 2010 to commemorate Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, with a denomination of Rs 150, is also at the museum.

The club is also aiming to promote numismatics in every school by organising exhibitions. To motivate students to take up coin collection as a hobby, the club will celebrate Children’s Day on November 14 by providing free entry to children.

Formed in 1994, the sole institution in Jharkhand dedicated to promoting coins has been hosting an annual numismatics and philately exhibition titled Jamcoin. In 2011, it had organised an auction for the first time. The next edition of Jamcoin will be held in January 2012.