A Coin Record

He says he has never ventured beyond the Juna Bazaar in search of unique additions to his coin collection. And that bit of information Ra...

He says he has never ventured beyond the Juna Bazaar in search of unique additions to his coin collection. And that bit of information Rahul Samant shares on the e-mail from Tempe, Arizona. This young Puneite has just made history 8211; by having the Guinness Book of World Records create a new category for his collection 8211; coins from the maximum number of countries.

8220;It was on March 8 this year that I opened my mailbox and found an envelope from the Guinness people, confirming my entry 8211; of coins from 217 countries. It was around 3.00 p.m. local time, which is around 3.30 a.m. Indian time. I immediately called up my home, and sent e-mails to my friends and colleagues. My dream had finally come true; the ambition I had cherished since childhood had been accomplished. The record will be published in the 2000 edition of the book,8221; writes an exuberant Samant and his excitement remains undiluted even as he corresponds across cyberspace!

Samant did his schooling at the Abhinav Vidyalaya and graduated from the Government College of Engineering Pune. Having finished his master8217;s in mechanical engineering at the Arizona State University in May this year, Samant will leave for a new job in Cincinnati, Ohio in July. While his collection grew rapidly ever since he moved to the U.S.A., thanks to the easy contact established with other numismatists over the Internet, the roots of his hobby are entrenched in his childhood here. And the initial collection was just like that of any child 8211; a random non-specific one. 8220;I would collect whatever I got. My father8217;s colleague, Mr. Shirodkar, has a huge collection of coins 8211; basically British age coins of India 8211; and that really inspired me,8221; he remembers.

But then he had no contacts, and his treasure trove was restricted to whatever he got from friends like Shirodkar, who gave him some old Indian coins, as well as his first foreign coins from West Germany and Bhutan. 8220;I was in class five or six then. For many years, my collection was stuck there. Then towards 1990, my father went abroad and got me some new stuff 8211; coins from popular countries like Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong,8221; continues Samant.

It was then that he narrowed down to circulation coins from foreign countries, and hoped to have each country represented in his collection. But with only about 13-odd countries in hand, there was a long way to go. And that saw him venture out of home, in the serious search for new acquisitions, and most Sundays saw him at Juna Bazaar. 8220;Having befriended the people at the bazaar, they would specially keep coins for me.8221;

At the beginning of 1995, Samant had around 45 countries. Some visits to Juna Bazaar and a couple of coin shows later, it had reached 100. Then the pace escalated and by July the next year, Samant approached the Limca Book of Records with a collection from 134 countries. 8220;By the time I arrived in U.S.A. around mid-1997, I boasted of 165 countries. In India it was difficult to get coins from some tough8217; countries like Niue and Palau. But access to dealers is not the problem here with the easy communication systems. Today, my collection stands at 223 countries.8221;

Clarifying that he does not collect antique coins but only circulation ones, Samant points out that he has not spent too much on his hobby. 8220;Maybe Rs. 6,000 in India and probably 1,000 dollars here. My plan is to collect one coin per country, though I do have many Indian items belonging to the British era, the Portuguese era. But these have happened to my collection, I have not gone about procuring them specifically.8221; It8217;s been a long journey and exciting as it traversed exotic lands like Sierra Leone, French Polynesia. And with moments of thrill as special coins came into hand. Like a multi-coloured coin with a plastic coating on metal issued by Palau. Or large ones from Liechtenstein, Benin, Marshal Islands, Ivory Coast.

Story continues below this ad

While an important milestone has been reached with the Guinness Record, Samant has not yet put a full-stop to his passion. 8220;With no category earmarked for a coin collection depending upon the number of countries there8217;s such a section for currency, I had no record to beat. But I received certain guidelines 8211; a list of countries considered current8217;. This included independent countries, their dependencies, disputed territories, and eliminated countries like USSR, West and East Germany, Czechoslovakia not identified as countries in 1998 which featured in my set.

8220;Also if some countries use a common currency for example, eight countries in the West Indies use the Eastern Carribean Dollar then I had to have a commemorative coin issued by that particular country to include it in my count. Taking care of all these guidelines, my count came to 217. In October last year, I sent photographs and authentication to Guinness and they got back in March 8211; with the good news!8221;

With the three countries of Niger, Senegal and Puerto Rico remaining from the list sent by Guinness yet to be conquered by Samant, there is still the last lap remaining. 8220;That way I will have ensured that nobody breaks my record!8221; Happy travelling, Rahul Samant!