An accidental encounter with an Italian has spurred his interest in collecting coins and there has been no looking back for him ever since. That was more than two decades ago.
But to this day he pursues his hobby with the same zeal.
His latest treasure is plastic currency coins reportedly released for the first time in the world by Transnistria. Meet, numismatist S. Srinath, an Office Superintendent in the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway. His father S. Prabhakar was also a numismatist and a railway employee. He had, however, confined himself to collection of rare, and old and new Indian coins.
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“I had gone with my father on a trip to Kolkata more than two decades ago. He went for medical check-up at the railway hospital there. I came across an Italian man, who was admitted to the hospital. We became friends in no time. After returning home, he had sent me 60 Italian coins. I subsequently lost contact with him,” says Mr. Srinath. His interest in adventure sports took him places and he utilised the opportunity to exchange coins with numismatists or buy coins from others. He has coins of 40 countries.
“I had participated in skydiving in Thailand and bungee-jumping in Nepal, and they helped in adding to my coin collection. I had exchanged old and rare Indian coins with Rubles from the Russians, who were staying in the city during the early stages of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant,” he recalls.
In August 2014, Transnistria had released the first circulating plastic currency coins. They resemble metal coins and are hard and small. They are coloured like bank notes and have security features that are usually found on paper money only.
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The plastic coins are available in four denominations of 1, 3, 5, and 10 Rubles. The yellow-brown 1 Ruble is a circular plastic coin with a diameter of 26 mm, about 1.2 mm thick, and bears the bust of General Alexander Suvorov.
The square green 3 Rubles portrays the bust of Franz De Volan. The blue 5 Rubles is pentagonal in shape and bears the bust of Pyotr Rumyantsev.