Indian Gold Coins

The world’s first coins were Greek, made in Lydia about 640 BC. The earliest Indian coins were silver, and it was not until about 100 AD that the Kushan emperor Vima Kadaphises introduced the first Indian gold coin, which was a gold dinar bearing the image of Shiva. So India’s history of issuing gold coins dates back almost 2,000 years.Over this length of time India has produced many different denominations of gold coins, which include Dinars, Staters, Kahavanus, Pagodas, Tankas, Ashrafis, Mohurs, Gadyanas, Bhairava Gadyanas, Varahas, Fanams, Koris, Xerafims, and Tolas.

Many Indians make it a point to own gold, if for no other reason than to use it in weddings.Indian brides traditionally have a dowry of gold. This is usually in the form of high caratage gold made into jewellery, often incorporating gold coins. Wedding guests also gift gold coins as lucky wedding gifts. So over the centuries, many ancient , rare and ultimately valuable gold coins have been melted and made into jewellery.Even today there are not many collectors of Indian coins in general or Indian gold coins in particular.So there are many interesting and very affordable rare Indian gold coins even now in danger of being melted down. Collecting such coins which are currently unpopular or unfashionable might be a good idea,especially if a person is not averse to a bit of speculation and /or has an interest in numismatics. Firstly because the collector can obtain interesting, unusual and rare coins at a fraction of the price of coins from a popular series. Secondly if and when interest increases, prices are certain to increase accordingly. Thirdly, it will help to stop rare coins being lost for ever by being melted down. Read more of this post