The Coin Collector

The love for travel helped Manu Kumar Jain further develop his passion for numismatics. Jain, MD, Xiaomi India, owns over 2,000 coins spanning 200-plus years and over 50 countries, including Canada, Russia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Egypt, Qatar, the US, Zambia and Denmark. His collection also includes some less-circulated currencies such as the Finnish markka and the Swedish krona. He even has a euro for every single European country he has travelled to. "Coin-collecting can be traced back to thousands of years. It is an exciting hobby that I have been investing in for a long time now. I have been able to collect numerous coins from across the globe due to my travel."

Almost 50-60 per cent of his coins are from post-Independence India while 15-20 per cent are from the period before Independence. The rest have been collected from different countries. "I have been collecting these for over 30 years and even today my passion is undimmed. Coins hold great symbolic and historic significance, and with them, I always feel that I can travel back in time and witness the evolution of time," says Jain.

Jain also loves to collect stamps. He started this around the same time he discovered his interest in numismatics. He owns over a thousand stamps from various countries.