Kerala: Man finds ancient coins in pot on land bought with lottery money

A Kerela man has found that an earthen pot in his newly bought plot of land. The earthen pot contained ancient coins. It is suspected that the coins are from the time of the two Maharajas of Travancore. The plot of land was bought from a Rs 6 crore Christmas Bumper lottery that he had won last year.

Ancient coins in an earthen pot

Rathnakaran Pillai, who is a resident of Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram had originally bought the plot that is next to his house in order to grow vegetables. The land that Pillai bought is right next to an old Krishna temple called Thirupalkadal Sri Krishna Swami Kshethram.

Pillai planned to plant tapioca on his plot and for this reason, was busy tilling the land when he found an earthen pot below the surface and when he opened it he found thousands of copper coins. It was only later that Pillai realised that what he had found were ancient coins. He told local media that inside the earthen pot he found 2,595 ancient copper coins that weighed 20.4 kilograms. The copper coins that of course oxidised having been underground for so long. After further investigation it was determined that the coins date back to 1885 to 1924 during the reign of  Sree Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma and 1924 to 1949 during the reign of Sree Chithira Thirunal Bala Rama Varma.

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Pillai handed over the coins to the appropriate authorities. The ancient coinage system that was used when the coins were in circulation was known as Fanam. The exact value of the coins is yet to be determined. As the coins were oxidised they will have to be cleaned and the copper oxide that is stuck on the surface has to be removed. After they have been cleaned and restored they will be sent for evaluation. Because the coins had historical significance he can not keep them but will be awarded fair compensation later for handing the coins over.

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