DAMMAM, 23 September 2006 — V. Sageer, a Keralite who has spent the past 22 years here in the Eastern Province, is a man with money. This, of course, comes with being infatuated with numismatics, or the study of money and its history.
“While working in the UAE once I had with me currency from there as well as India and Singapore,” he said. “Having these currencies aroused my interest in numismatics. That was the beginning.”
Today, Sageer is member of various organizations and collector clubs devoted to this distinct study, including the International Banknote Society of America, the Society of Paper Money Collectors, the Latin America Paper Money Collectors, and numismatic societies based in Kannur and Calcutta.
India boasts at least 16 such organizations, not to mention 36 national and regional clubs devoted to philately, the study of revenue and postage stamps. However, Sageer estimates that there are only about 75 people who share his interest in the Gulf region.
Sageer says he has a vast network of penpals from more than 150 countries who cooperate in his efforts and share his interest. Other than paper notes, he has collected coins from more than 100 countries.
Sageer says that numismatics is a great way to learn history and gain knowledge. “In 1997, when India and Pakistan celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence, the International Bank Notes Society issued special Indian and Pakistani notes,” he said. “These were issued to only 100 special members of the society, and I have some of them.”
How many people know that Indian currency was in use in Arabian Gulf countries (except Saudi Arabia) in the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s? In fact, the use of Indian tender was so widespread in Oman, Bahrain and Qatar that specific serial numbers were assigned to notes to signify that they were put into circulation in the Gulf rather than India. Sageer has a collection of such notes that have printed on them a tiny “Z” to indicate they were intended for use in the region. Sageer also has some 1,000-rupee notes that were withdrawn from circulation in 1977.
Other currencies in Sageer’s collection tell tales of international intrigue and political moves.
He has Iraqi dinars from 1992, printed during the state of emergency in the First Gulf War. He has notes issued jointly by Dubai and Qatar in 1971, and bills that were legal tender in Algeria during Tunisia’s occupation, depicting both countries as one. His World War II-era notes tell the story of Japan’s occupation of Malaysia and the Philippines. From India, Sageer still has some 1,000-rupee notes that were withdrawn from circulation in 1977.
He has “before” and “after” currencies from countries that have changed their names: Myanmar (Burma), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
He also has money from countries that no longer exist or have been broken up, including Biafra — a short-lived secessionist state in southeastern Nigeria — and French Indochina, which today are Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Other oddities in his collection include: Indian bank notes with distinct numerations, from 111111 to 999999; special Haj pilgrimage commemorative notes from Pakistan; Chinese notes specially designed to be distributed at funerals, as is customary; “uniface” notes from Austria and Hong Kong that only depict the numeric value of the currency on one side; uncut sheets of Lithuanian notes; and German currencies dating back centuries.
One of the more delightful aspects of this hobby, he says, is laughing at and collecting the blunders. As with any printing production process, there are always mistakes.
Sageer is the proud owner of Indian rupees that were inadvertently sliced at the wrong places during the separation of the individual bills from the uncut sheets of money. He has Saudi five-riyal notes from 1977 with a grammatical error — a missing dot over the Arabic script — which states that the note is worth “hassa” (“to lessen, reduce, or diminish in value”) instead of “hamsa” (“five”). Another two-riyal note misstates the name of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. He has rupees from the 1950s with similar mistakes in Urdu.
Numismatics can be an expensive hobby; Sageer has spent thousands of riyals to purchase odd and rare currencies, as well as reference books. He estimates that his collection is worth about 600,000 rupees (about $13,000), but, considering that 80 percent of the notes in his collection are out of print, it is not likely that this numismatician from Kerala is going to trade them for anything as commonplace as the money we use every day.
