17-year-old to set up coin museum

BHUBANESWAR: Seventeen-year old coin collector Debi Prasad Mangaraj has decided to set up his own private coin museum in the City and not wait for the State Government’s help.As a school kid passionate about coins as well as currencies, he had acquired an amazing collection of coins from across the world and at present, he claims to be in possession of 40,000 antique coins from 130 countries.Debi’s family had requested the Government for a piece of land to set up the museum which would have helped draw students to numismatics besides being a repository of information. However, the request went in vain and now the family has decided to do it on its own. It has already started construction work for the museum in Satya Nagar. Once complete, the family will request the President of India to inaugurate it, PK Mangaraj, Debi’s father said.When he was in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Debi had shown tremendous passion for coins. Now with 40 thousand antique coins from 130 different countries, he  hopes to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. “My proposed museum will immensely benefit school students, tourists as well as research scholars having fascination in numismatics,” he says.  The museum will have rare coins of 12th and 13th century BC and Debi also has collection of rare coins dated 1857, the year of the Sepoy Mutiny. His collection also include coins of the East India Company transacted between 1800 AD to 1810 AD, the pennies belonging to late 18th and early 19th centuries, Peso of the mid-nineteenth century. He also is in possession of pressed coins of both stone and gold and earthen coins with imprints of Gods and animals, stated to be over 800 years old.Debi’s collection has drawn accolades from the likes of the Dalai Lama, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi, Governor MC Bhandare and his predecessor Rameshwar Thakur, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, besides senior BJP leader Murali Manhor Joshi who were pleased to see coins dating back to 18th and 19th century. His collection includes coins from Australia, UK, France, Japan and the US to name a few.