Vile Parle family scores hat-trick with 5,800 foreign coins

Bella Jaisinghani, TNN | Oct 20, 2013, 02.26 AM IST

MUMBAI: A Vile Parle family has entered the Indian record books for owning the largest individual collection of foreign currency coins numbering 5,800. The achievement has become a topic of discussion at mealtimes as the children have laid out the coins beneath the glass top of the dining table.

This is not the first time the Shanghvis have entered the record books. Their elder son Parth was named the world's youngest scuba diver at the age of 10 while the younger, Krish, became India's youngest skydiver at eight. The boys' mother Kavita (40) and her father-in-law Dr Upendra Shanghvi (72) have now claimed a hat trick. They have won the title for the largest individual collection of foreign coins registered with the Punjab-based Unique World Records. They received a certificate on September 22 and the achievement will be published in the 2014 edition.

Dr Shanghvi's frequent trips to Europe starting 1987 drew him to "leftover change". "There was no Euro then, so each country had a variety of currency, some of which was too small for dollar exchange. I began storing coins as memorabilia, and my daughter-in-law pitched in during annual holidays to Europe, US, Canada, China, Australia and South Africa," he says.

Numismatists appreciate the effort of such amateur collectors. Expert Girish Veera says, "It is encouraging to see travellers take an interest in collectibles. I would say 5,800 is a reasonable number although one will find at least 100 avid coin collectors in Mumbai who own more than 25,000. The number is not the criterion, what matters is how rare the coin is. One may have five coins but the value comes from their historical importance."

The Shanghvis do not overstate the value of their hoard, however. Kavita says, "These are contemporary coins that we have not evaluated for their worth. We chanced upon the 2013 edition of the Unique World Records that had awarded the title to M Rathore who has 3,000 foreign coins. We realized we had a larger collection that could fetch us our third record. One day we hope to become the family holding the largest number of records."

Source: TOI