Rare collection of old coins at Customs museum
by Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana
The Sri Lanka Customs Department is making the final touches to its
full-fledged museum to be opened soon at the new Customs Headquarters on
Chalmer's Jetty will showcase its long standing history and unlawful
items detected throughout history since the era of Parakramabahu the
Great. Among a range of precious exhibits displayed here the collection
of old coins takes a vital place.
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Decimal era
coins |
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Pre
colonial era coins |
The officials in charge of these exhibits boast of a comprehensive
collection of old coins that includes some of the most rare coins to be
found in the country which is owned by the Colombo National Museum or
certain private collectors who remain discrete.
The museum will however display only Sri Lankan coins although they
possess sacks full of foreign coins belonged to various eras that had
been received or collected from the foreign traders through out history.
Director of Customs in charge of Bio Diversity and National Heritage
Protection Unit, Samantha Gunasekara the brainchild of this museum said
a bulk of these coins had been collected from visiting overseas vendors
as duty on arrival even in the pre colonial era.
The initial task was to carefully segregate the local and foreign
coins which was not an easy job.
Although many coins displayed its denomination and period certain old
and rare coins in the form of tiny objects more like pebbles could not
be identified by Customs officials.
That is why they decided to summon an expert on the subject to
identify and segregate the coins according to its period and
denomination. Dr. Kavan Rathnatunga is a numismatics expert and one of
the very few collectors who owns a large variety of old Ceylon
coins.Categorising the Customs coin collection according to its period
and denomination, Dr. Rathnatunga said the coins were mainly divided
into four eras as Pre Colonial, Dutch, British and Decimal Era (after
1870). Then they were again categorised according to the sub eras such
coins belong to Parakramabahu, Leelawathie, Nissanka Malla and types
like 'Standing Man'. Coins belonging to the King Nissanka Malla era are
considered to be one of the rarest.
The collection has popular coins like Stuivers (Thuttuwa) of the
Dutch period, Duits (Doithuwa), Elephant Dumps of the Modern British
period, Half Fathin, Quarter Fathin and Queen Victoria Five Cents.
Other than this the Customs own about 30 kilograms of VOC coins
collected during the last two centuries.
Commending the Customs’ attempt to preserve these old coins for the
future generation and to set up a unique museum for study purposes for
the scholars and academics Dr. Rathnatunga proposed to set up a similar
type of museum at the Bandaranaike International Airport to exhibit the
true glory of Sri Lanka for the arriving, departing and passengers on
transit. |