Blogs

Over the past few months, I have noticed an increasing interest in silver (and gold) coins – from collectors, and investors who dabble in collectibles. The reason is obvious – silver price is up by almost 35% over the past year. Moreover, some investor-collectors I know like to park some of their equity market gains in antique-bullion coins. There are some commonalities between the equity market and collectibles – sound research is one of them. For instance, consider three seemingly identical coins in the image above – silver rupees from different years 1938, 1943 and 1944. To a layperson, they...

One of the first banknotes I picked up as a collector was the 100 trillion dollar banknote of Zimbabwe – practically worthless when it was printed; this note is now valuable as a collectible. This note is the best known instance of hyperinflation in the twenty-first century. While an outlier, the 100 trillion note highlights a major risk of fiat money – loss of value – which is far more common than we think. This note also helped me appreciate the traditional Indian love for gold – often criticized by economists and finance professionals. I also have in my collection...

“The more you pay for it, the less inclined you are to doubt its authenticity”The quote from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy accurately captures the sentiment of a collector. In a recent high-profile case of art fraud, an unsuspecting buyer in Mumbai was sold nearly a dozen fake paintings. Fakes are a problem across all categories of collectibles, and numismatics is not an exception. As a long-time collector of old coins and banknotes, I have dealt with my fair share. Occasionally, other collectors and sometimes investors also seek my advice on new acquisitions.If you are new to something, don’t go for...

As we start a new year, money – making/saving/investing more of it is a resolution for many of us. However, as a collector, I also view money or coins as a marker of history. You can closely track the history of a country or a region based on its coinage. For instance, 1947 saw one big change for India – also reflected in Indian coinage (see the above image). Going back into the past, we can see similar changes when one dynasty/empire was replaced by another. For instance, the rise, dominance and decline of Guptas, Mughals, Marathas and the British...

Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei has been described by Leftist media in colorful terms ‘madman’, ‘far-right’, 'Argentina's Trump', and the like. I don’t have a view on his politics, but I can understand why Argentinians voted for an outsider who wants to shut down the Central Bank and use the US dollar as currency. Argentina currently faces a crisis – inflation of over 100% and a fraudulent exchange rate – sure signs of failure of economic policies.However, these problems are not new. As a collector of old banknotes, I have seen this movie play repeatedly in Argentina (and the rest of...