Monday 9 July 2012

Coins close to my heart




This Rs.2 coin is very close to my heart than any other coin in the world. Why?, because its a coin commemorating the great emperor Chattrapati Shivaji, the founder of Hindu empire 'Hindavi Swarajya', who I admire the most, who is a pride of state of Maharashtra ( I don't know about entire nation). Why Maharashtra? because today's Western Maharashtra was the major territory of his empire when he founded it. The empire is commonly know as 'Maratha Kingdom'. He was the great warrior and the only one who recreated and established Hindu empire at the time when the entire Hindustan ( Now we call it India...I wonder why?) was under the rules of 4 major Muslim dynasties Mughal, Adil Shahi, Qutb Shahi and Nizam Shai. Under these rules, the life of Hindu common man was nothing less then hell, when this great man rose by saying 'Hey Rajya Vave Ye To Shrinchi Iccha' means 'Its a God's wish this empire to be created (for Hindu common man)'! and took out the people from the shadow of Muslim rules to build 'Hindvai Swarajya' (Self-rule of Hindu people). I tried to reflect the same feeling in my 1st photo above. 

This coin was issued in the year 1999 (too late after Independence, in my opinion). This should have been the 1st theme to be released after Independence.

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In my opinion this is the most beautiful Rs.5 coin ever issued in India for circulation. I love this coin due to its overall design and composition. The copper-nickel alloy used for this coin emboldens the design greatly. This coin is thick and heavy. So, in all its a great mix of material, weight and design. I have many of these coins. Rs.5 coins were issued for circulation every year since 1992 till date except years 2005, 2006. I have at least 1 coin from almost all the years.

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This Rs.5 Indira Gandhi coin is a special in its own measures. This coin is very big and is the 1st out of 2 coins of this size (2nd is the Rs.5 Nehru coin). When I got this coin in my hands at the age of around 9-10 years, I was so fascinated by its size and its luster that I refused to give it back to my parents for spending. At that time Rs.5 was a big amount for them, but they gave it to me and took promise from me that I will never spend it. I feel proud that I have kept my promise given to my parents.
Later in school days I came to know about who is Indira Gandhi. I love her decision making ability and strength she showed during the India-Pakistan war of 1971. 

This coin was issued in the year 1984.

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This Rs.1 coin is commonly called as 'Bada Rupaya' means 'Big Rupee'. Now a days we don't find it in circulation. I loved this coin as soon as I saw it. The copper-nickel alloy enlightens its elegance. The outer rim design is taken from the design found on British silver rupees coins.This one rupee coin started in circulation first in 1962 and issued again in 1970 after almost 8 years. Later from 1975, it was issued every year until 1983, when its size and thickness was reduced keeping the design of wheat sheaves unchanged. However this big rupee continued to be in circulation for some years after it.

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When I first saw this 25 paise Rhyno coin, I felt it a mysterious coin because of 2 reasons: 
1- It was the 1st 25 paise coin made up of Ferritic Stainless Steel. As a child I felt mesmerized of its mirror like finish.
2- It features a Rhino. It was the first coin featuring any animal on it as a main theme after 1950 (and the only, till date), that too the one which has unusual features like single horn, pig like tail, short legs, mysterious skin. But I liked this animal due to its mysterious but strong body. It oozes some kind of aggressiveness.

It was first issued in circulation in 1988 and continued to be released every year until 2002. I have 1 coin of every year from 1988 to 2002. Many thanks to my Grandma for saving them in her big wooden box, which was always a curious object for all the children in my family. This big box gave me some old currency notes too.

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This is 50 paise commemorative coin issued in 1986 as part of FAO program of United Nations. It features 2 fishermen catching fishes. I love this coin because I love eating fishes and I love the 'Fishermen Dance'.
The coin shows 'Pomfrets' caught in the net and I love eating pomfrets a lot.
Fishermen dance, commonly known as 'Koli Dance' and is very popular in Maharashtra. I love the costumes, dance style and music of this dance. The lyrics of the songs in this dance revolves around sea and gives us a big concept of worshiping sea because sea is a biggest source of fishes.

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If you ask me what is so special in this 3 paise coin, I will say its the shape of coin and the importance of number 3 in our life! Being a school going child in the era of nineties , I loved drawing and when ever drawing teacher used to tell us to draw symmetric drawing, I used Hexagon. It takes precision to draw hexagon for any child, but once it is drawn perfectly, it offers great patterns for symmetric drawing. I loved drawing hexagons and hence the coin. The small design at every corner of this coin enhanced its beauty.

This coin was first released into circulation in 1964 and continued to be issued every year until 1971.

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Isn't this 10 paise coin a cute one? The people who have seen and handled this coin, will definitely agree with me. This coin was the 1st 10 paise coin of ferritic stainless steel coin series. It was very small in size, almost similar to the button of shirt. In above photograph, the coin just below this 10 paise FSS coin, is the older 10 paise Aluminium coin. We can easily find the great difference in sizes. These coins were not popular in public as they complained that these are very small to handle and feared them loosing frequently.

This 10 paise coin was the first of its kind with mirror like luster similar to 25 paise coin, it catched my attention immediately. During the school days, at one time I was having more than 10 coins of this type in my kitty and had no choice but to spend them. Still I managed to save couple of coins for me.

These coins were introduced in 1988 and continued till 1993 and were reissued in 1996 to 1998.

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This is Rs.2 'Unity in diversity' coin. It features the design symbolizing 4 people coming together raising their both hands to show unity. each dot represents the head of a human and two lines as its hands. The symbol is seen as four heads sharing a common body. It is thought of as people from all four parts of the country coming together under one banner and identifying with one nation. India is a country with great diversity in religions, food, costumes, cultures. In spite of such a vast diversity, the nation is emerging as one of the powerful nations of the world. It became possible due to the united efforts by its citizens. So as a theme, its a great theme and I love it. I tried to put the theme in the photographs above.

However, it was the most controversial coin of India due to the way this symbol was featured on coin. According to RBI, this design represents "four heads sharing a common body" under a "unity in diversity" theme. However, Hindu nationalists have charged that the symbol is a Christian cross resembling the symbol on the deniers issued by Louis the Pious ( emporer and king of France). Many believes that this was the mischief played by the then central government of UPA led by Congress party. 

This coin was issued from year 2005 to 2007. The coin is still in circulation but slightly rare.

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