Fanams are so small in size that most people are amazed that such coins were ever introduced. It is difficult to manage them, and it is more easy to lose them than hold on to them.
Pictures: Travancore Silver fanams, shown above a cenitmeter scale and below and Indian one rupee (modern) coin to give an idea of how small they were
Several reasons have been suggested for the small size, and perhaps all of them are right. One is the importance of gold in the Indian society. Giving gold to friends, relatives, and to the priests were practices embedded into the Indian fiber. However, this would be an impossible task for most people in society, seeing gold was always costly. It has been proposed that tiny coins made of gold would fulfill such a need in an ideal manner.
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Want to bring out the shine in those old coins Grandpa gave you? Think twice before cleaning them. If the coins are collectible or valuable, cleaning will almost always reduce their value — sometimes by as much as 90% — and cleaning won’t improve their grading (the standards used by coin collectors and dealers to evaluate a coin), so you should usually let them be. If, however, you’ve just got some old coins around that aren’t worth much more than their face value, but which you would still like to make more presentable, you can usually clean them up pretty nicely without damaging their surfaces too noticeably.
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General Tips
With more than 1000 kingdoms and 5000 people groups, a materially rich country like India gave rise to hundreds of thousands of coins over the last 5000 years of history. Thus nobody in his right mind would think of ever collecting all the Indian coins, or even a substantial portion of it. This means that anyone getting into collecting Indian coins should adopt some common-sense measure, some of which will be outlined in this article.
CoinPicture: Yaudheyas of Punjab, obverse
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Pic: Gold coin of Kanishka I with the Hellenistic divinity Helios. (c. 120 AD). Obverse: Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding a standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΚΑΝΗšΚΟΥ "[coin] of Kanishka, king of kings". Reverse: Standing Helios in Hellenistic style, forming a benediction gesture with the right hand. Legend in Greek script: ΗΛΙΟΣ Helios. Kanishka monogram (tamgha) to the left.
Kanishka and Buddhism: Kanishka’s reputation in Buddhist tradition is based mainly on the Buddhist tradition that he convened the 4th Buddhist Council in Kashmir.
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Picture: Gold coin of Kanishka I (late issue, c.150 AD). Kanishka standing, clad in heavy Kushan coat and long boots, flames emanating from shoulders, holding standard in his left hand, and making a sacrifice over an altar. Bactrian legend in Greek script ("Shaonanoshao Kanishki Koshano"): "King of Kings, Kanishka the Kushan".
Kanishka (Kushan language: Κανηϸκι, Middle Chinese: 迦腻色伽) was a king of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia, ruling an empire extending from Bactria to large parts of India in the 2nd century of the common era, famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. His main capital was at Peshawar (Purushpura) in northwestern Pakistan, with regional capitals at the location of the modern city of Taxila in Pakistan, Begram in Afghanistan and Mathura in India.
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I believe it is an important duty of any dealer or auctioneer to protect his customers from counterfeit numismatic items. Dealers should not only be knowledgeable in the areas in which they deal, but should seriously investigate any suspicious item which they own, and encourage their customers to voice their doubts about any questionable item they purchase. I do not view questions about in this area as a challenge to my own knowledgeability or ethics, and I always seek to separate questions of authenticity from considerations of personal financial loss. It is in the best interests of the hobby to detect and denounce forgeries as early as possible.
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Picture: Large sized VOC led coins
A coin is usually a piece of hard material, usually metal or a metallic material, usually in the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government. Coins are used as a form of money in transactions of various kinds, from the everyday circulation coins to the storage of vast amounts of bullion coins. In the present day, coins and banknotes make up the cash forms of all modern money systems. Coins made for circulation (general monetized use) are usually used for lower-valued units, and banknotes for the higher values; also, in most money systems, the highest value coin is worth less than the lowest-value note.
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Coin Collecting is the hobby pertaining to collecting or trading of coins. Coin Collecting goes back as far as coinage itself. It originally started as the hoarding of coins in order to increase their value. Collecting coins for their artistic value came later on and was originally considered a hobby fit only for the rich (for obvious reasons).
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The history of Indian coinage stretches back at least 2600 years. Several dynasties have come and gone, as have rulers like Alexander the Great, the British, the Portuguese and the Dutch, leaving an intricate trail of coinage behind.
It is impossible to talk of coinage over such a long period without also talking about history.
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Brahmi is the most widely used language on ancient Indian coins. Any serious hobbyist would be benefited if he pickes up even the rudiments of this language. Every serious numismatist should anyway learn this language.
Bimal Trivedi, who writes frequently on this website, is a student of Brahmi and would like to help people learn and master this language. Here is a primer in PDF form offered by him.
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