The power of antiquity

The Kochi-based antique collector Bobin J Mannanal has ancient coins, litho prints, seals, stamps, and a curved stick that acted like a boomerang

Photos: Bobin J Mannanal. Coins during Tipu Sultan's reign. Pics by Albin Mathew 

By Shevlin Sebastian

In 1819, Colonel John Munro, the British Resident at the Court of Travancore invited the Reverend Henry Baker to set up a seminary for Syrian Christian priests. Following that, Baker worked on several other projects. Then, one day, he went to the Peermade hills with the idea of setting up a coffee plantation.

Things went according to plan. Labourers were hired. The land was cleared. And the cultivation began. The company was called Southern Coffee Plantation Limited. But instead of paying the workers with money, they were given tokens. “These tokens had value only inside the plantation,” says the Kochi-based antique collector Bobin J Mannanal, as he shows the coin: it has an image of rolling hills with a factory in front. “These could be exchanged for food items. There were similar tokens in the tea estates of Munnar also. It was a form of slavery, a sort of bonded labour.”

Bobin’s newly-opened antique shop ‘Leora’ is an eye-popping trove of all kinds of items like old seals, beads, weapons, and coins. Earlier, all these were on display, like as if at a museum, at a leading five-star hotel in the city. But now he felt it would be better off in a shop, with a possibility to buy and sell items.   

Not surprisingly, he has numerous gold, lead and copper coins. These belonged mostly to the dynasties in South India: Cholas, Pandyas, Venad Cheras and the Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan (1750-99). In Tipu’s kingdom, he had ⅛, ¼, ½, one paise and two paise copper coins. In silver, there were one rupee and two rupees, as well as smaller denominations.

Interestingly, Bobin says, only the upper-middle and the affluent classes used these coins, especially for property deals. In 1419, King Kotha Varma of the kingdom of Thekkumkur, Kerala sold a large parcel of land (modern-day Poonjar in Kottayam district) to Pandyan King Manavikrama Kulasekhara Perumal, in exchange of 10,000 coins and one emerald stone.

As for the rest of the population, they relied on the barter system. “And none of them owned any land,” says Bobin. “Instead, they worked on the lands of the rich but had to give 75 percent of the produce to the landlord.”

Because these coins are rare, there is a huge demand in international markets. “In Bangalore, last year, during an auction a Shah Jahan Gold Mohur was sold for Rs 1.1 crore,” says Bobin. “In 2013, at an auction in London, a Tipu double rupee, minted in Kozhikode, went for Rs 35 lakhs.”

Thereafter, Bobin shows a glass-framed litho print hanging on a wall. It shows Tipu fighting the British during the Siege of Seringapatam (1799). In the work by English painter Henry Singleton, the British soldiers, in their bright red tunics and white trousers are aiming muskets at the opposition. Tipu, with glaring eyes, has an upraised sword, but a British soldier has already shot at him from a pistol.

“Twelve litho prints were made to show how Tipu was defeated,” says Bobin. A few years ago, at an auction in London, another collector sold one for Rs 7 lakh.

Bobin then takes out a curved stick with a sharp iron edge. It is called a valari. And is similar to the Australian boomerang. Two brothers, who were chieftains, Chinna and Periya Marudhu had transformed this hunting weapon into the valari. They lived in the Sivaganga Estate in modern-day Tamil Nadu which was ruled by Queen Velu Nachiyar. In 1801, when a 750-strong contingent of British soldiers attacked the kingdom, the valari created havoc. It could slice a neck and return to the thrower. After the battle, the British outlawed the valari, physically destroyed 25,000 of them, and hanged the brothers at the Tiruppattur fort on October 24, 1801.

Asked the lessons that he has learnt, Bobin says, “In our history, there is a lot of bloodshed and betrayal. History is not like in the films we see. You could get killed at any time, especially if you are a member of the lower castes.”  

On the personal front, Bobin became interested in collecting when he came across his father’s collection of foreign coins and stamps. Since his father, Johnikutty Joseph passed away from a heart attack when Bobin was only ten years old, he did not know the reasons behind his interest. “But it must have been an unconscious inspiration for me,” he says, and adds, “This hobby has brought a lot of joy to me.”