There are people in the society who develop
a hobby and get recognition for it. Here is such
a man who has achieved name and fame for his hobby
of collecting coins. He is Mohammad Safiullah.
An employee of AP Transmission Corporation, Safiullah
has a collection of more than 20,000 coins. In addition
to this he has more than 10,000 books, manuscripts,
journals, photographs, articles, farmans and
weights measures.
Safiullah who developed this interest at the age
of 11 says that his father and grand father were
also involved in the clollection of coins. Coins
dating back to as early as 6th century BC and coins
of several dynasties who ruled India like the
Shatavahana, Mauryas, Gupta, Ikshvaku, Vishnukundins,
Guptas, Mughals, Bahamanis, Asafjahis and the
Qutubshahis are available with him. From the
age old punch marked coins to the latest coins and
a complete set of portrait coins of the Shatavahana
kings make his collection enviably precious.
How did he collect all these coins? "Through
scrap dealers, coin dealers and from different persons,"
says Safiullah. Narrating an incident he says that
he had to persuade the family of one Dinakar Rao
of Hussaini Alam, who had a valuable collection
of coins, letters and documents, for nearly three
months. Incidentally, Dinkar Rao's house collapsed
after Safiullah acquired the rare material. Safiullah
also often travels to historical places like Kotilingala,
Kolanapaku and Kondapur in search of coins.
This he does in monsoon season because the coins
come up from the soil in the rainy season.
To collect coins and to understand the period
and the history associated with them, Safiullah
had to learn Brahmi, Pali, Kharoshthi, Prakrit and
Devanagari scripts. He has developed a simple method
for converting Hijri era into the present
era. He has also written two books From Kauri
shells to Credit cards and Men who ruled
India - Chronology of geniological list of dynasties.
Surprisingly Safiullah who is involved with history
is not a student of it. He is a student of science
and engineering.
His hobby has earned him many awards. He is a fellow
of the Royal Asiatic Society, London and Secretary
of the Hyderabad Numismatic Society. He has
arranged 12 exhibitions of his collections across
India, received an award from the Numismatic
Society of India and received the Nelson
Right Medal for his contribution to the field
of numisamtics.
After achieving so much what are his future plans?
"I would like to open a research centre
where all material related to history can be easily
available" says 31 year old Safiullah.
Address: Mohammad Safiullah, Bait-us-Sami,
3-6-419, Street #3, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad-500
029.
Phone: 763 1297
There are people in the society who develop
a hobby and get recognition for it. Here is such
a man who has achieved name and fame for his hobby
of collecting coins. He is Mohammad Safiullah.
An employee of AP Transmission Corporation, Safiullah
has a collection of more than 20,000 coins. In addition
to this he has more than 10,000 books, manuscripts,
journals, photographs, articles, farmans and
weights measures. 
