The Salar Jung and the State Museum are all set to add a new feather to their caps, with a dedicated Numismatic gallery each.

A collection of over 2 lakh coins will go on display at the State Museum and Salar Jung will treasure 1,800 coins.

The coins belong to various dynasties like the Satavahana, VishnuKundina, Shatrupaksha, Gupta and the collection even includes early punch marked currency.

Authorities from the State department of Archeology and Museums said, the semi-circled Numismatics Gallery being set up on the ground floor of the museum and will include coins from second century BC- punch marked coins made of silver and copper. These form the earliest currencies found in Andhra Pradesh.

The gallery will also display Satavahana (made of lead and potian), VishnuKundina, Gupta, Mughal, Thuglakera coins. Most of the coins were unearthed from Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Khammam and Vizianagaram. The recent find of 90 silver coins from Medak district have also been included.

"Besides the British Museum, the AP State Museum, which is the oldest in the state, is the one that has a plentiful collection of coins, making it the second largest collection in the world. It has about 14,000 gold coins, and around 1,00,000 silver, lead, and copper coins from different dynasties of AP. The department has also sanctioned Rs 50 lakh towards this gallery," officials added

Meanwhile, A. Nagender Reddy, director of Salar Jung Museum, said, "The gallery will be set up in the central block and Rs 10 lakh have been sanctioned for the process."

According to officials, the showcases are being prepared by a private company and will feature bullet-proof cabinets and other security features. Additional metal detectors and CCTV's will soon be installed at the numismatics galleries at both museums. Visitors can also look forward to a section which will give them information on various technologies that were used in the minting of coins in the different eras.

Besides the funds and technical additions, the Reserve Bank of India has also donated an information kiosk and a television to the Salar Jung Museum. The kiosk will explain various aspects of ancient Indian coins and currency notes and the TV set will display the topic, "The story of Indian paper money, know your bank notes", aimed at educating visitors.

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