Collecting rare coins, particularly those released during the reign of the Mughals and other Muslim rulers, including the Bahmani Sultanate and the Adil Shahis, is a passion for Mohammad Ismail, son of a retired bank employee and working in the Sub-Registrar’s office in the State government as a coordinator for the “Cauvery” online scheme for registration of property in Kalaburagi.
Mr. Ismail, who nurtured the hobby of collecting rare coins right from his school days, has a rich collection, including a lead coin of the Satavahana period dating back to 30 BC. He also has the latest special commemorative coins released by the Reserve Bank of India on different occasions. Renowned photographer and artists and a coin and currency collector Mohammad Ayazuddin has been the inspiration for Mr. Ismail.
“This is my passion and the only habit, and it all started with the collection of rare coins from the Fakirs who visited the Khwaja Bande Nawaz Dargah in my school days. I also visited shows and auctions conducted by different numismatic societies and exchanged rare coins with collectors from different parts of the country and world. I have purchased a few rare coins from a collector in the U.S. and these are my prized possession,” he said.
Mr. Ismail has spent more than Rs. 5 lakh in collecting these rare coins and the priceless collection is now worth over several lakhs of rupees. “My interest in collecting details of the Bahmani dynasty and preparing a genealogy of the Bahmani kings led me to collect the coins released by the different Bahmani kings. One thing led to another and my interest widened and I started collecting coins of the Mughal kings also. I have coins from the Satavahana period, the Vijayanagar empire and others in my possession now,” Mr. Ismail said.
In a chat with The Hindu in Kalaburagi, Mr. Ismail said that his collection includes a rare copper coin minted in Kalaburagi, which was known as “Ahsenabad” then, and released during the reign of Sultan Ghayasuddin Tahmatan Shah who ruled just for 30 days before he was assassinated in 1397. He has a rare silver coin released by the founder and first king of the Bahmani dynasty Alauddin Hassan Bahmani in 1347 and a copper coin released by the last Bahmani King Kaleemullah in 1526, along with coins released by all other Bahmani kings.
“I have rare coins of Bahmani kings released from the mints in Kalaburagi, Bidar, Vijayapura and Ahmednagar and Golconda in Hyderabad,” he said.
Besides this, Mr. Ismail’s prized collection includes a gold coin released by the Vijayanagar kings, and the one released by Hyder Ali of Mysuru. He has copper, lead, silver coins of the Mughal kings, including Akbar, Jahangir, Aurangzeb to the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar. He has a collection of coins released by the earliest British regime in India till the last coin released by the British before Independence in 1947.
“I am now writing the history of the Bahmani kings. Later, I want to hold an exhibition of these rare coins,” he said.
