kolkata: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) museum at Council House Street in BBDBAG is hosting a unique exhibition on "Indian Banknotes & Coins" depicting chronological development of the currency in India. The exhibition that was inaugurated on Friday will be held till March 17 (excluding Monday when the museum remains closed).
About 10 cabinets, comprising coins and bank notes, have been displayed in the exhibition. The first cabinet dates back to the period of sixth to fourth centuries BC during the 16 Mahajanapadas.
The coins are punchmark coins bearing different symbols which make numismatists understand the particular Mahajanapada it belonged to.
One of the earliest coins from the Gandhara period including the Bent Bar coin has been exhibited.
"Value is hardly written in any of these coins so weight decided the value," Ravi Shankar Sharma, secretary of the Numismatic Society of Calcutta (NSC) said.
The exhibition is being hosted by RBI in association with NSC, which is the apex body of numismatists imparting knowledge in the field of research and collection of coins and its allied subjects since 1985.
The ancient coins of Chandraketugarh, gold coin of Sasanka, , coins of North east India comprising coins from Assam (all of octagonal shape), Cooch Behar (all of circular shape) are some of the major attractions of the exhibition.
Currency notes from the Bank of Bengal, including share certificate, cheques are also on display.
To start with the country has three Presidency banks- Bank of Bengal, Bank of Madras and Bank of Bombay that merged to form Imperial Bank of India. The Imperial Bank later became State Bank of India. The British India notes of George V on display are printed on one side with specific date of release mentioned on it.