As part of the celebrations marking the 50 years of diplomatic relations between Bhutan and India, a Bhutanese Coin Exhibition was organised at the Nehru-Wangchuck Cultural Centre in Thimphu.
The event, which began last week, ended yesterday.
Coins as old as 225 years were displayed. There were high quality silver coins made in Bhutan as well. A Major General of the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) took the initiative to collect the coins for the exhibition.
“The exhibition hopes to explain to people the history and development of coinage in Bhutan,” said Major General G Jaishankar. “The coins have been made in Bhutan from 1790 onwards.”
As intended, for the visitors, it was a journey back to the history.
“I found that the information which was displayed at the exhibition is not even in the text books,” said a teacher of Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School, P N Thakur. “The exhibition is very informative,” he added.
“Getting to know about the types of coin used by our ancestors is really interesting because we have no idea about it,” said one of the students, Tshering Wangmo. “Nowadays, we don’t get to see such coins,” added another student, Keeba Seldon.
Meanwhile, the Major General added that with his personal collection of coins and also from others, he plans to establish a Coin Museum in collaboration with the Central Bank.
