Bhubaneswar, Dec. 29: Five gold coins dating back to the Gupta dynasty were exhibited for the first time today at State Museum on its 59th foundation day.

Museum officer in charge of coins Bharati Pal said: "From the gold coins, one can learn that the position of women in the society was very high during the Gupta period (fourth to sixth century). The Gupta monarchs glorified the queens by placing them on the coins."

She said even the Satavahan queen - Nayanika - consort of King Satakarni (first century) was found on coins. "The queens of Chandragupta, Samudragupta, Kumargupta-I and Skandagupta have been portrayed on the coins," she said, adding that the coins of Chandragupta-I bear the name of his consort Kumara Devi.

The museum now has 7,000 coins starting from 7th century BC collected from various parts of the country. In addition to the gold coins, the museum has some rare silver ornaments such as crowns, arms, earrings, a waist-belt for Lord Jagannath and His siblings.

She said: "We display the coins on a rotation basis because we do not have adequate security to display all the coins on a single day."

Last year, the comptroller and auditor general in its report had referred to the pathetic condition of the Odisha State Museum. Since galleries had not been constructed despite availability of funds, the artefacts could not be displayed. As of March 2015, the museum had galleries with a capacity to display 1,763 artefacts at a time it was in possession of 39,452. However, nothing much was done to increase the number of galleries.

The museum authorities currently display the antiquities in 18 galleries. The report said since the museum did not periodically rotate its collection, visitors were unable to see the other things not on display.

Museum superintendent Jayanti Rath said: "We will install CCTV cameras and more security personnel will be deployed here."