The coin-seller’s dream

Outside the Indian Museum 

I have seen the coin-seller for years;

He is now an old man,

Skin wrinkled with time,

Drooping into his sack of coins

 

One day, negotiating a George V,

I couldn’t help asking:

‘How long, cha-cha?

Why don’t you hand over

To a younger generation?’

 

‘Not until I earn a small fortune,

How can I retire?

He chuckled,

‘For decades, this museum

Has been home.

 

‘Under this neem tree

I have seen so much,

I have seen annas

Replaced by paise

Paise by rupees

‘Now I am seeing coins

Replaced by your shiny phones,

Yet it still pleases me,

When, once in a while

A stray passer-by stops

 

‘And peers into these poor bags

Smelling the grimy bronze of time

For that one moment,

I feel I am a rich man,

I still have something left

 

‘To offer to my city

‘Then, once in a while

A numismatist comes – as yourself,

Seeking a Gandhi, a Victoria

And I feel like a custodian of time

 

‘Trading a bit of the past

For some more time in the future,’

He chuckled again,

Let me then continue to trade

Not until I earn a small fortune.’

 

The trader of coins

Awaits his fortune,

I feel a bit of pity,

Until I see the coins in his hands

That he has been twiddling all along

 

Wait, are those faded gold?

Am I seeing it right?

Are those the Zodiac Mohurs of Jahangir?

The other one there –

Is that a Shivaji’s gold?

 

Chacha catches my eye

We both smile,

I hand a 50 rupee for my George,

Nod gently

And leave the coin seller to his dream…

 

12^th August, 2026

 

Outside the Indian Museum in Kolkata, coin sellers have long been part of the street life around the museum, offering old Indian and colonial coins to collectors, tourists and curious passers-by. Their small stalls and coin-filled bags create an informal extension of the museum itself—a place where history is not displayed behind glass but handled, examined and traded in the open air.

Jahangir's gold Zodiac mohurs are among the most remarkable coins of Mughal India. Issued during the reign of Emperor Jahangir (1605–1627), some of his gold coins carried the signs of the zodiac, rather than the more conventional Islamic calendrical or royal imagery. Each type depicted a zodiac sign alongside inscriptions identifying the emperor and his reign. They are particularly prized by collectors because of their rarity, artistry and the unusual combination of Mughal imperial power with astrological imagery.