18 tonnes of coin offerings accumulated with TTD

A team of coin experts, including numismatoligists, have been pressed into service to assess the value and antiquity of the coins, TTD Executive Officer L V Subrahmanyam told PTI.

He said the team, drawn from the Archeological Survey of India and the Andhara Pradesh Archeology Department, had already begun the exercise and were expected to complete the scrutiny by end of this month.

The coins were made of copper, bronze and steel.

Of the 18 tonnes, over six tonnes were coins from foreign countries, including that of USA, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New zeland, South Africa, he said.

TTD was planning to set up galleries in prominent museums across the country for display of its coin collection, he said.

Eight years ago the TTD had made an attempt to auction six tonnes of coins of foreign countries received to the temple. However, no bank in the country came forward to buy these coins, he said.