His is a “mint” fresh hobby, and he has been gaining “currency” out of it, the only unique aspect being preserving the moolah and not blowing it up. A dealer in perfumes, Rajesh Jhunjhunwala is passionate about his knack for numismatics. The notes that he coined for over two decades now define his rare collection as the great ancestors of modern day paper money. An exhaustive series of Indian rupees sans coins includes currency notes varying from `1 to `100 in countless variety, notable misprints and many other peculiarities, highlighting the distinctive character and colours of our currency notes since 1947. On top of this, he’s also famous for his philately or stamp collection. Carrying forth a paternal legacy of two generations, Rajesh has been amassing an exclusive variety of stamps since the post-independence era. And his family has been curating stamps since 1854. Having inherited this priceless heirloom and also some very valuable insights from his father Mr Vishwanath Jhunjhunwala, Rajesh seems to have hit the “jackpot” on the fiscal charts. Incidentally, his father who devotes his entire time and energy into his master collection has won a gold medal in the national philatelic exhibition titled Inpex-Empirepex 2001. Even his grandfather, the late Sitaram Jhunjhunwala was a great philatelist and was greatly lauded for his worth-a-watch coffer at Indipex 1973. Holding on to his day job of manufacturing perfumes, Rajesh, who has been a serious collector for over 20 years now, is a proud possessor of Indian pecuniary chits of the post-independence era in alphabetical order. Besides this, he also owns fancy number collections of lac and full-digit series and various erroneous and faulty notes. Moreover, the notes are oven fresh as they have been directly procured from the mint produce.
“This is my favourite pastime. Collecting paper of exchange and communication is a craft that needs a lot of care and conviction to pursue. These are more than mere strips of paper. They are important documents that can be used to trace a nation’s history,” says the businessman. “One requires a lot of focus and dedication to assemble a series of sorts. There’s also a need to maintain a chronological order in the collections. My area of interest doesn’t allow me to earn heavy profits but it’s certainly a recreation that I thoroughly enjoy,” he says.
But such a fetish is not easy to fulfil. “As a collector, I had to face many hurdles to acquire and assemble these currency notes from various channels. But with time, I gradually got a consolidated foothold of reliable sources, financial institutions, well-placed organisations and agents,” he says.
Rajesh tries his utmost to encourage numismatic and philatelic hobbies among people. “I’m always keen to organise exhibitions to generate consciousness and a genuine interest among the inquisitive commoners,” he says.
But in spite of all his efforts why are coins are conspicuously absent from his set of numismatics? To this the collector replies, “I’m not conversant in Urdu. And to make an assortment of coins, one must be well-versed in the language to keep track of the precious metals of Arabic origin and understand its finer nuances.”
Rajesh is very careful not to include cancelled or used stamps in his repository. When enquired if he would like to make an on-line version of his display, he says, “A detailed description on the collection can be posted but a full-fledged site would require a mammoth space to scan and display the mammoth collection.” But until that happens, Rajesh has other plans. “I’d like to have my own museum and I also have plans to archive my collection,” he reveals.
Come February 12, this “coin-collector” will be taking part in the Indipex 2011 — International Philatelic Exhibition, to be held in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. The weeklong show will witness collections from 71 participating countries. “The global confluence will be a meeting point for collectors, dealers, philatelic journalists, publishers, designers, security printers and postal administration,” he says. “A few good pieces were missing from the post Sepoy mutiny era. But not anymore. Quite a blast from the past, I say!” reveals the curator.
And needless to say, Rajesh is very particular about the ways in which he preserves his oeuvre. Stashing the wafer-thin paper assets in folding-plastic jackets, he says, “You must know the technical nitty-gritties. The notes and stamps are put inside a photo-album and then kept in wooden cupboards.”