The Hindu : Gold coins handed over to Salem museum

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 10, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Gold coins handed over to Salem museum

By Our Special Correspondent

SALEM March 9. A set of golden coins, said to be of Vijayanagar period, found at Koneripatti in Namakkal district were handed over to the Government Musuem here on Thursday.

According to the Curator, Kasilingam, 71 coins were found when trenches were being dug to lay telephone cables at Koneripatti in 1999.

Since then these coins were in the custody of the Rasipuram tahsildar and after undergoing the procedural requirements (which took about three years), they were given to the museum here.

Mr. Kasilingam said these coins were believed to have been kept intact in a small mud pot, but during the digging operation, the pot was damaged.

The coins were a little bigger than horsegram (``kollu kaasu'' in Tamil), and have uniform pattern of lines and dots on both sides.

The Curator said the impressions could signify the age in which these were minted.

However, he said, the exact details could be read only by numismatics experts. Mr. Kasilingam said during 1980s Romanian coins were found in Koneripalli and Seerapalli areas, indicating that commercial transactions thrived between the Indians and Romans.

As per law, the museum could not keep any gold objects on its premises, and it was allowed to retain only the articles made of copper or other low value materials.

Hence, these coins would be sent to the Chennai musuem.

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