My kind of Souvenir: Collecting Notes and Coins from Around the Globe

Banknotes and Coins— Discovering One Piece at a Time

Banknotes of nine different countries. Image by the Author.

I was a little kid when my uncle went to Europe, and that was the first time I saw a currency from a country other than India; the mere sight of a foreign banknote gave me a new kind of excitement.
I couldn't resist the urge to gather up every coin my uncle had brought back. Each currency with a unique artistry and history is my little treasure to date.

And so, my lifelong fascination with collecting notes and coins from far-off lands began.

My first ever set of coins. Image by the Author.

So, I started collecting coins and banknotes as souvenirs from every country I started visiting. For me, it's like possessing fragments of distant lands and cultures, with the best part being that currency transcends language.

Every coin I collect tells me a story and reminds me of a happy moment when I got that one. Let me share a very recent story with you.

During my trip to Indonesia, something puzzled me for the first four days. I didn’t see any coins in any of my cash transactions. I began to wonder if…